


The Pyrokinetic

by Beklet



Category: DCU, Greek and Roman Mythology, Teen Titans - All Media Types, Titans (Series)
Genre: Demigods, F/M, Female Anti-Hero, Major Original Character(s), Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-03-19 17:54:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 23
Words: 48,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13709613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beklet/pseuds/Beklet
Summary: She came and went as she pleased, helping the heroes when she wanted and being a villain when it suited her. But that all changed when the Girl of Fire seemed to fall off the face of the planet. No one had seen her in months and any mention of sightings came only from rumours. This didn't bother anyone, except for Richard Grayson. As Robin he had a duty to protect the people of Gotham and of the world if need be, the fact that she was seemingly gone didn't sit well with him.What if she was up to something?What if someone had done something to her?He was unsure which option worried him more.But one day, when the Teen Titans are in dire need of help, the girl of fire returns as if she never left. Her comments were sarcastic and snide as usual. Curious about a few things, Richard Grayson wants to find out more about her, but doing so would be difficult...Considering she no longer spoke out loud.





	1. Prologue

“Well, that went well.” Raven stated sarcastically as all five teen heroes were chained up in a cold underground lair.

“It could have gone worse…” Beast Boy attempted a positive outlook on things as normal, but as normal, it didn't work.

“How could it have gone the worse?” Starfire asked, seeming to want to know the answer to her question she looked around the group.

“Why don't you ask Boy Wonder over there?” Cyborg used the term sarcastically, his battery life slowly depleting. “He's the reason we're in this mess.” Robin ignored the comment, staring seemingly at nothing as his eyes were distant.

“You know that's not fair, after all… Pyro's gone, and you know how they were.” Considering the fact that Raven had said that they all knew that Robin couldn't be blamed for what had happened, at least entirely.

“Maybe she's okay though, maybe she just disappeared like last time?” Beast Boy put the idea out there, but was quickly shut down by Raven.

“We all saw what happened, there was no way she could have survived.”

 


	2. The Girl of Fire

It had been three months since Pyro had gone missing... well technically 'last been seen'. It was hard to be missing when you were never really consistently present in the first place. Some people saw it as a positive thing, in fact nearly everyone did. There were just a few who were left worried, and by a few... there was only Dick Grayson and Robin, who very few knew was one and the same person.

Of course though, Dick couldn't be focused on that right now, not as he was assigned to be the student liaison to a girl that was starting at Gotham Academy that day. He knew very little about her, just her name and a vague description... well her timetable too since he had that in hand with a few other things.

Red hair, blue eyes. A girl he had never seen at school before. From those three factors he figured that this was who he was looking for. He walked up to her slowly, trying to seem approachable and harmless when in reality he was already locating weaknesses and thinking of strategies to take her down if he had to.

"You must be Eisa, I'm Richard but everyone calls me Dick." He stated, holding his hand towards her in greeting.

"It's lovely to meet you." She stated as he took her hand before quickly dropping it, her voice quiet almost purposefully to make you listen to her. It was a good tactic, and she seemed patient enough to not raise her voice if someone was talking over her.

"I didn't really get much information about you, just that you have selective mutism..." He trailed off, realising after he spoke that he probably shouldn't of mentioned it since she seemed to freeze. "...and that you got the Wayne Scholarship, you must be doing exceptionally well to get that."

"Well I'm sure you know all about the Wayne Scholarship, you basically got an upgraded version." She stated with a smile.

"You're not wrong." Dick responded, the first bell of the day sounding to signify the beginning of the first lesson block. "So for today the first lesson block is going to be spent showing you the school and answering any questions you might have. Then we're going to the your second lesson of the day, which is advanced mathematics, the same as me."

"Let's go then." She replied, the tour of the school not taking long to complete since she had studied a map of the oversized school a few days beforehand, memorising as much as she could. So the end of the first period finished with him taking her into the library, which spanned up all three stories of the city school. It was open, with bookshelves covering the walls and still not being enough for the books that the school owned.

The following lessons flew by all too quickly, the end of the day arriving faster than expected before the two stood outside of the school, Dick waiting for Alfred to pick him up whilst Eisa waited for the bus to take her back to her home. It was a few more days before they established a strong friendship, before he knew she was an orphan and before he knew that she had selective mutism in regards to anxious, stressful or extremely social situations.

Luckily though, Dick didn't have a large group of friends, if any, and the ones he trusted the most didn't even attend this school, or, for a couple of them, any school at all.

***

It was one memory that would never leave Robin's mind, the first time he had met Pyro. He had been almost fifteen, and he assumed she was near the same age. He had gotten himself in trouble with the Terror Twins, attempting to take the both of them on at the same time by himself was a mistake he would never make again.

He was tied up in an abandoned building, had been for maybe two hours when a girl turned up... well that's probably not the best way to describe it.

She hung upside down from the storey aboves railing, her legs over the bars as she looked him directly in the eyes. Her hair was more like living fire than hair, her body covered in a black, probably fireproof, catsuit and her eyes weren't just covered in a simple cloth mask... her irises seemed to be on fire too.

"Did Boy Wonder get himself in some trouble?" She had asked, still hanging upside down while looking at him. The first thing he noticed was the strange tenor on her voice... most probably because of a voice changer.

"You could say that..." He had trailed off. "And you are?"

"Oh, sorry, I forget my manners sometimes when I'm the one saving other people's asses. Don't always remember the introducing myself part." She stated sarcastically, picking her body up to then stand on top of the railing before jumping down, her landing almost silent.

"You're here to save my ass?" Robin had asked, still working on untying the bonds himself. "I don't need your help."

"Sure you don't, I'll just wait here until you get yourself out of the rope that's tied all around you which happens to have a special synthetic nylon in it which is completely unbreakable. All the while Jack Frost Junior is on his way with the Terror Twins plus his daddy to put you out of your misery... and for clarification that wouldn't be setting you free. That would be freezing you in a block of ice before your body becomes as solid as the ice surrounding it and you instantly die not of hypothermia but of frozen blood so lack of oxygen to the brain, and if that's not enough after that happens, instead of leaving your body in one piece they would probably let the Twins shatter the ice and your body with it." The girl had explained. "If I were you I would be taking the help offered to me, but have it your way."

"Fine... can you help me please. But after you free me can I know who you are?" The question seemed simple enough of a request, and the girl seemed to agree with it nodding her head before walking over to him and squatting next to him. She snapped her fingers in his line of sight, allowing him to see the new flame sitting in her hand.

"I'll try not to burn you, but this will take a bit to get the rope to melt." She explained, Robin nodding in understanding before she took her hand behind his back where a majority of the rope was. "The amount of rope they used is probably a bit of overkill, there's enough for both of the Twins to be held securely here." She stated, concentrating the flame to make it smaller and hotter, easier to manoeuvre but more dangerous should she slip.

Robin felt the bonds slowly release, pulling his hands away as soon as he could, the Girl of Fire, as he would call her until she told him her name, then moved to the knots around his ankles. It took a bit longer to get through those ones due to the sheer amount tied and knotted around his legs. They really didn't want him to escape.

"Thankyou." He stated as the last bits of rope fell away from his legs, watching as she stood up and then offered a hand for him. He took it, wanting to show trust but also needing to since his legs were half numb.

"You are very welcome, and you can call me-" She was cut off by a shard of ice flying through the air and missing her face by a centimetre.

"Who the hell are you?!" One of the twins shouted, so the girl turned to face them all. Two ice villains and the twins, with the pyrokinetic who seemed to be on his side Robin figured this should be an easy win, even with wobbly legs on his part.

"I was honestly just about to introduce myself to the Boy Wonder here and you just went and cut me off to ask me who I am. One, that was completely rude. Two, that was completely redundant. And three, the names Pyro, you want to find out why?" She didn't wait for a response before snapping her fingers like before and then allowing the fire to consume her body, her hands lifting before pushing forwards, a rush of completely blue flames then surged towards the four. She then dropped the fire from her body, grabbing Robin by the shoulders and allowing the flames once again overtake her body and his, the fire not burning him but not being cool either. He was more worried about the insane amount of sweat coming from his skin to realise their feet had left the ground the minute the flames engulfed them.

It was the first time he had met her that she had saved his life and taken him for his first flight outside of an aircraft.

It wasn't the last time either of those things would happen either.

***

"Are you still worrying about Pyro?" Raven asked as Robin sat in the Teen Titans tower, once again checking surveillance footage and once again finding nothing.

"She's never just disappeared like this... there's always a reason but normally we know why. The fact is that this time we don't, and that's what I want to know. I want to know why, I want to know where she's gone, I want to know how long until she comes back." Robin responded, not taking his eyes away from the screen.

"Look, Robin." Raven started, making sure she had his undivided attention before continuing. "Pyro isn't an ally, so you shouldn't be worried about whether she's in trouble. Pyro isn't an enemy either so you shouldn't be worrying about some kind of evil master plan she might be coming up with. She is a neutral party, meaning she is as equal a threat as she isn't. We need to be more focused on things like what Slade is going to do next, Pyro can take care of herself."

"You don't understand her the way that I do, Raven." It was a weak defence, but one all the same. He ran a hand through his hair as he tried to gather his thoughts and create a logical reasoning to back up his worry, but he was lacking that rational thought.

"She saved your life a few times, we get it. But, how many times has she put us in danger?" It was a good question, one that had a very specific answer.

"Three times, Raven, and she's saved me five. That means she's closer to an ally than an enemy in my books."

"This is ridiculous Robin, she fights against us constantly-"

"It's never serious when she does, she has never hurt any of us intentionally-"

"That doesn't make it better." Raven finished the argument. "You need to let this go, she'll come back in her own time, when she's ready to. She disappears all the time, but one constant thing is that she always comes back, and generally it's because you're in trouble. There's no use trying to find her, because if she doesn't want to be found she isn't possible to locate."

"But what if-"

"How about you get over your idiotic little crush, that's all this is. You have feelings for a girl who manipulates fire and that's literally all we know about her. If we knew anything else that could prove she's one of us, all of us would be helping you find her, but that's all the information we have. Her file consists of gender, possible age and the only other information written down is literally 'Pyrokinetic'. Get it together Robin, she doesn't need your help and she probably never will." Raven seemed to be satisfied with everything she had said since she then stood up and teleported out of the room.

Robin couldn't stop, however, and continued his searching long into the night.


	3. Suits

Richard Grayson had experienced the pain of losing loved ones before… being only a few days away from his birthday the usual bout of depression was beginning to arise. Every year he felt like it lessened, but each time it still felt like a bullet to the chest. This year Bruce had decided on throwing a party for his eighteenth, it was a milestone that apparently couldn't be ignored, especially since he was the adopted son of a millionaire.

But as he looked around the large room full of people he barely knew he wished that Eisa could have made it. She was working tonight, and she said that she had tried to get the shift covered but it was too late. The other people he wished were here couldn't be because of obvious reasons, so he was essentially alone… trying to learn people's names as he would soon be thrown into this world outside of school.

It was in the middle of a conversation with the leader of a rival company that his phone began ringing in his pocket.

“If you would excuse me for a moment…” He trailed off, seeing the contact name a smile came to his face and his feet took him outside of the manor. “Eisa…” There was surprise in his tone.

_ “Richard...”  _ She trailed off in response, she had never called him by the nickname that everyone else did. He didn’t know why, but he didn’t really mind either.

“What’s going on? Why are you calling me?” Dick asked, he didn’t want to sound like he didn’t want her to, but he wasn’t sure why she had.

_ “I thought I’d save you for a few minutes while I was on break, I can’t be there with you but… this is close enough.” _ She told him, and he couldn’t argue with that.

“Well, thanks. I appreciate it.” He then sat down on one of the benches in the garden behind the manor, he was still in view from the glass windows of the ballroom that the guests were flooding, so Bruce wouldn’t worry about him.

_ “You’re welcome…” _ She trailed off.  _ “Are you okay?” _ She asked next, it was something she always knew, when there was something wrong.

“I’m fine.” Dick replied, but Eisa wasn’t buying it.

_ “Just so you know, I don’t believe that for a single second. What is it? What’s wrong?”  _ She asked, receiving silence. He could hear her sigh before she continued talking.  _ “Okay, I’ll start guessing and you can tell me when I'm warm. Feeling awkward?”  _ Silence.  _ “Missing me?” _ She asked in a joking fashion.

“Well…” Dick trailed off, earning a laugh from her.

_ “You should be, but that’s not it, is it? You know it’s going to be easier if you just tell me, right? I mean I can keep on guessing I’ve got a twenty-minute break ahead of me and I can talk with my mouth full of food, as a pre-warning.”  _ She stated.

“Fine, I don’t feel like I belong in this situation… I feel kind of stupid really. I think I look like an idiot trying to fit in with all these millionaires and billionaires in cases, I'm just here because Bruce took pity on me, I'm not like them. My suit probably looks ridiculous on me-”

_ “I'm gonna stop you there, before you keep putting yourself down. I think I get the gist here… you feel like a fish out of water and trapped in a suit yes?” _ She checked.

“Yeah, you could say that.”

_ “Well then, let’s start going over this. You belong in that situation, if you think you don’t then it’s going to show that’s why you have to know that you do. At least pretend that you know you do, faking it is proven to help you actually get it… act like you belong and you will. Simple. Now, looking like an idiot isn’t possible for you, aside from the simple fact that you aren’t an idiot, men always look good in suits.”  _ She stated.  _ “If they fit correctly that is. I'm sure Bruce wouldn’t let you wear a suit that doesn’t fit properly, you probably had about three fittings for it or something like that.” _

“You’re not wrong…” He trailed off, looking down at himself.

_ “Well then, with that piece of information I can practically guarantee you don’t look like an idiot in your Versace su-” _

“It’s Armani…” He cut her off, earning a sigh from Eisa.

_ “Sorry, poor person’s mistake, if you ignore the fact that I can’t even see you. On that note I don’t even need to in order to tell you that you most likely look exceptionally handsome and damn close to perfection as per usual, so, stop thinking that you are any less than that. Now that’s fixed, is there anything else wrong?”  _ She asked next, he shook his head in almost disbelief that he was confiding within her so deeply after knowing her for only three weeks.

“I'm not living up to everyone’s idiotic expectations… they’re all asking where my girlfriend is, I'm almost eighteen you know, I should have met my soulmate by this stage.” Again he heard laughter from the other side of the phone.

_ “Well, I'm sure they’re all getting the shock of their lives.” _ She replied.  _ “Let me guess, it goes something along the lines of ‘you’re such an attractive young man, Richard, how haven’t you found someone yet’? Am I close?”  _ She asked, adding on a playful, overly formal, nearly British voice to her impersonation.

“You aren’t close, you’re spot on.” He replied, a comfortable silence falling after he spoke. It seemed to last for a minute as he stared at the plants around him. “Are you still there?” He asked, his eyebrows furrowing slightly.

_ “Of course I am, I'm not going to leave you hanging like that.” _ She answered, another wave of comfort coming over Dick as he sat all too still on the bench.

“I wish you were here, or I was there… alright, I wish I was there. I don’t wanna be here, don’t get me wrong I owe Bruce big time and I will work for him for a few ears to make it up to him, but, I don’t want that life. Sure the money would be nice, but acting all the time, keeping on a façade constantly, thinking everyone is your enemy… I can’t do that forever.” Dick stated, and as he did so he realised that it wasn’t just connected to the money side of things. He meant being a hero. He couldn’t do that forever, and there was no way in hell he would be able to become the next Batman.

_ “Well you don’t have to… and don’t think you’ll have to do it alone either. You’ll find someone, someone to share everything with, the good and the bad.” _ She reassured him.  _ “They could be closer than you might think.” _ She told him, and his mind instantly went to Pyro. There had always been a strange connection between them.

“I hope they are…” he trailed off, wondering where the pyrokinetic was.

_ “I'm sorry I have to leave on this note but I have to go, I'm being called back early. I’ll see you at school, okay?” _ She told him, her voice rushed as she got the words out as fast as she could.

“Okay, I’ll see you then.” Dick replied, hearing the significant beeping to let him know the call had ended. Letting out a sigh he put the phone back in his pocket, turning around to go back to the party held for him.

“You know the rule.” Dick looked up to see Bruce standing in front of him, a silhouetted blockade which made him seem like Batman in that moment rather than the adoptive father he was supposed to be.

“Which one?” Dick replied, asking rhetorically as he knew exactly was Bruce was talking about.

“I want you to have everything that you possibly can, have as many normal experiences as possible, but we cannot drag civilians into this. You know that having a girlfriend is off limits, it becomes too dangerous for them.” He said the same words he usually told Dick.

“Does it? Our identities are a secret, the only time it would become a danger for them is if our identities are revealed, that shouldn’t happen, it won’t happen. I don’t want to end up like you, alone, for the rest of my life. I want someone to live with, to share everything with, including the double life we both live. I have given seven years of my life to this superhero bullshit, Bruce, can’t I have one where I have a normal life? Get a girlfriend? Get some bloody friends in the first place? The only friend I have as myself is Eisa, all of the others know Robin, not me.” Dick stated,

“Dick-”

“Let’s just go back inside.”

***

“Anything happen while I was gone?” Robin asked as he entered the tower’s main surveillance room, slightly surprised to find Raven there instead of Cyborg.

“Possible movement of… something. We don't know what.” Raven told him, getting up the video of people moving alongside a building before she went back and paused it, zooming in on the people in shot.

“Is that…” Robin trailed off, looking at the freeze frame again. “Who is that?”

“We don’t know, they’ve never been seen before, we have no record of them. I put them through facial recognition but there’s nothing, for either of them.” Was the answer he received as Raven then began playing the video again. There were two figures, one female and one male.

She had red hair, but the rest of her was covered and the video quality wasn’t good enough to see the facial features. The male was tall and had black hair, he also had dark skin, and was able to manipulate water, that piece of information was clear as they then proceeded to break into the warehouse which was next to a lake, he had harnessed the water and forced it to break down the door. It was unclear as to whether the female had any powers.

“What were they trying to find?” Robin asked next.

“That’s the thing, the warehouse is abandoned, there’s nothing in it, not anymore.” Raven replied simply.

“What used to be in it?”

“Well, we took down the bad guys that used to inhabit it. Do you remember? There used to be all sorts of weapons, bombs, guns, experimental stuff in there. The Light, they used to use it before we got them all.” There was a vague memory of this exact warehouse, now that Raven had mentioned it.

“So they have outdated information… which isn’t good. It means they have a way of gaining information in the first place, they may find current information soon, and if we have an hydrokinetic that could be pretty destructive, especially since we don’t know what she’s capable of yet.” He responded, the two then turning to face the door as they heard it open.

“You telling Rob about Pyro?” Cyborg questioned, being the newcomer.

“What about Pyro?” Robin then asked, looking back to Raven who rolled her eyes before exiting that video and bringing up another one. There was a bright orange streak through the sky, the video cutting to different cameras to follow it as it went around the city.

“It’s the first official sighting of Pyro since she disappeared.” Raven stated, the video playing again on loop.

“How do we know for sure?”

“We don’t, it’s just an educated guess. But it’s the best we’ve got.”


	4. Pyro

When Robin had called the Titans he hadn't been aiming to get this desperate, nor had he expected it… but it was safe to say the he had hoped for it. Well, maybe not hoped to end up encircled by fire with no grappling gun or other means to get out of the flames with none of the Titans free to help him. But alas, that was the situation he found himself in, and it probably had something to do with karma.

The others were hidden from his sight behind the bright flames, but he could still hear them over the crackling of fire as they fought against three H.I.V.E members; Jinx, Gizmo and Mammoth. While he heard them struggle he couldn't do anything to help them, he couldn't jump out, the flames were too hot, too high and too powerful to do so. Instead he would have to wait until someone could fly him out, and that was where his hope for failure comes in.

Ever since Raven had pointed out that Pyro only returns when Robin was in danger, he had been hoping that he would get into some form of trouble that only Pyro could get him out of.

This seemed as good as it could get on that front.

The flames continued getting higher and hotter and closer to Robin. His skin had turned red from the heat, but now as the temperature continued to escalate he could feel blistering beginning to happen. He should've worn the full suit, not the nostalgic one with capped sleeves, then he wouldn't be feeling his arms burn like this. Even with the fireproof cape over his head and covering a majority of his arms it couldn't stop the heat, and that was beginning to make him panic. Aside from that he was beginning to choke on the thick smoke swirling around him, the same painful air stinging his eyes through the domino mask he wore.

Just when he thought it could only get worse a body dropped on top of his, strategically hitting him from the front so he would fall onto his back from the force as whoever it was then laid over him, a leg either side of his waist as the heat from the flames began to lessen and the heat from the other person became more noticeable. His still stinging eyes managed to open for long enough to look directly into the irises of the new and hoped arrival.

 _If you're trying to get yourself killed, then this would be one of the most painful ways to do it._ Her voice echoed in her head like it was normal, but it was a completely new sensation for Robin and it confused him. Her eyes held dancing flames as a mask sat around them, covering her eyebrows and the tops of her cheeks in order to conceal her identity.

“Seems to be the only way to get your attention these days.” Robin replied without hesitation, earning a signature roll of the eyes from the girl over him.

 _Just an idea for next time you ‘want my attention’, a well written letter wouldn't be thrown in the bin immediately and I may read it._ Pyro stated, her facial expression losing the slight playfulness it always held as it was overtaken by focus and almost strain. That was when he noticed the perfectly shaped sphere of fire surrounding them to keep the out of control flames at bay as she tried to subdue them as well. She was probably doing too much at once but he wasn't going to let that stop him from having a conversation.

“I don't really know your address so… I guess I'll have to stick to getting into dangerous, life-threatening situations.”

 _Keep getting into these sorts of situations and we'll see how long it takes before I don't turn up to help you. One day I'm not going to be able to help, and you're going to die from smoke inhalation or something stupid like that and I'm not going to feel the slightest bit guilty about it because it wasn't my fault._ She stated bluntly, seeming to feel that way in reality and not spieling off in her usual lies. Not knowing what to say in response to that he changed the topic.

“So… telepathy, that's a new one for you." She rolled her eyes once again as she stayed over him, a human barrier between him and the flames that could potentially kill him. “Is that why you left? Because it all got a bit too much, hearing other people's thoughts in your head and having no control? Assuming that's what happened of course.” Pyro stayed silent which was enough of an answer for him. “Are you okay?”

 _I will be once we get you out of yet another idiotic situation._ She tried to cover up her true feelings with a fake sense of her old personality. She had changed, and he could almost sense that she needed help. She needed other people around her.

“Why don't you join us? Raven can help you with the mind stuff, and some friends wouldn't be a bad idea.” She immediately shook her head.

 _I'm not a team player._ It was the same response she always gave when he asked her, in the exact same form and exact same tone.

“That's why you're protecting me from the fire? Because you're not a team player?” he asked, she didn't respond so instead he kept talking to fill the silence. In hindsight, he probably shouldn't have. “Or is it because you fancy me?”

 _Did you just ask of I ‘fancied’ you? How old are you? 79?_ She asked with slight disgust in her tone.

“How long are we going to be like this for?” Robin once again changed the subject.

 _Until it's safe for me to get off of you_. Pyro replied simply.

“Right…” He trailed off, looking around them before focusing back on Pyro again. He couldn't stop his thoughts from going to an obvious scenario since he was between the legs of a mysterious girl he had questionable feelings for, although he wished that wasn't where his mind would go with it, especially since that girl could read minds now.

 _Keep thinking like that, Boy Blunder, and I swear to god that you're going to end up burnt so bad that there'll be nothing left behind for anyone to attach me to the murder or even know about it in the first place._ Pyro stated, clearly hearing his thoughts in her head to get that much of a reaction from her.

“We have discussed the Boy Blunder thing before, you know I don't like it.” Robin was acting almost childish about the name.

 _Well, maybe I would stop calling you that if you weren't always screwing up, but every damn time I see you, you seem to be in some form of peril which you arrived to through a series of mistakes._ Her words were harsh, but they were almost called for. She had a good point, and he couldn't really argue against it.

“No need to be so harsh about it.”

 _It seems to be the only way to get through to you._ She responded bluntly, finally getting off of him and dropping the sphere of flames. The fire beyond that was still burning with pure rage as harshly as it had been before, but the height seemed to have lessened. _I thought I would be able to calm them a bit more than this but I can't, so we're going to have to go with Plan B. Fly you out._

“Why do you always have to fly me out?” He always felt like a child when she did. He was never jealous of the other heroes having powers, but he absolutely despised the times when the only way to get out of a situation was through the use of another's powers, it made him feel useless, especially when he had to be carried out of a situation by someone who could fly.

 _Because I always bloody well have to. Do you honestly think I enjoy carrying you around like a newborn in these situations?_ There was a slight pause as Robin didn't know how to respond to her rhetorical question but wasn't given time to as she then spoke the four words that he wished were never stringed together in his entire existence. _Arms up, Boy Blunder._ He muttered some swear words under his breath as he did so, Pyro standing behind him and wrapping her arms around his torso, he dropped his arms as they became encased in flames. The fire was cool enough on the inside not to burn his skin, but hot enough on the outside to get them airborne, he never understood how she was able to do this but in that moment he didn't particularly care either. She flew him out of the circle of flames and to the other four members of the Titans.

“Why did none of you try and help me?” Robin asked as soon as Pyro let him go, his eyes looking around to find each one of the H.I.V.E members unconscious on the ground.

“We saw Pyro fly in, we knew you'd be okay.” Raven answered with annoyance clear in her tone, Robin then turned to Pyro who seemed to be slowly edging away.

 _I should go…_ She trailed off once again in Robin's head.

“You don't have to go anywhere.” Robin stated, trying not to seem controlling but doing rather horribly.

_You don't understand-_

“What I don't understand is why you even bothered to come.” Robin cut her off  the others watching in a solid state of confusion as they only heard one side of the seemingly heated argument. “You're apparently not a team player, you keep acting like you hate me and you're not even going to stick around for a few minutes to talk about where you've been for the last few months… so tell me, why the hell are you even here?”

 _I'm here because I was given the order to, I was permitted to come here and save your ass._ She told him, leaving him with many questions that he couldn't ask just yet. _I can't stay any longer than I need to because it could get too dangerous._

“Too dangerous? Who's after you?”

 _Not dangerous for me, dangerous for you. I don't expect you to understand but I need to go, otherwise I won't be allowed to help you again._ She told him, covering her body with flames as he took a step towards her.

“Who the hell has the power to control you?” He asked, receiving a response he should have guessed would be coming.

 _You're supposed to be a detective, why don't you figure it out. It shouldn't be too hard, after all, you have experience with them._ She stated, then flying off as if the conversation they had never took place.

“Can someone explain to me what just happened?” Beast Boy asked.

“Well, Robin got distracted by his need to see Pyro again and almost got himself killed.” Cyborg answered, Raven then cutting in.

“While it seemed that Pyro has telepathy now, which is probably why she disappeared in the first place depending on how it affected her.” She added, her tone a little less sour than normal.

“And someone seems to have control over her every move.” Robin stated, watching the shape of flame move further and further away through the sky.

“What if she is lying?” Starfire asked, rubbing her arm while watching Robin carefully.

“She's not lying about this, there's no gain to lying about it. She's telling the truth and we have to help her.” Robin responded, nearly every single one of the others expressions changed to shock.

“Excuse me?” Cyborg asked, a hand over his heart like he had just been shot.

“There is no ‘we’ in this situation.” Raven broke the news to Robin quite simply.

“Why not? She needs our help-"

“But she clearly doesn't want it.” Beast Boy cut him off, pointing to the dot of flame still shrinking in the sky.

“Maybe she does but she can't show it, if someone has some kind of hold over her in whatever form, why would she outright say that she wants help? They could have eyes and ears on her, they might be able to hear what she's saying telepathically for all we know. They would have to be holding something over her but what?” he asked himself more than anyone else.

“If you can get real evidence that shows that she wants our help, then we'll think about it. Until then, it's not happening.” Raven said bluntly, the rest agreeing with her.

“Someone should stay with these guys until the police come.” Robin said, changing the subject.

“Yeah, you can.” Cyborg stated bluntly, the four of them turning away from Robin to make their way back to the tower, the only one of them to look over their shoulder was Starfire with a worried expression, seeing Robin run a hand through his hair due to the stressful situation.

He let out a sigh as he watched the team move away and turned to look at where Pyro had flown in the direction of. He was confused about everything she told him, not just what she had said but the hostility on top of it. She was never that angry, and that was one of the points that lead him to believe that she was speaking the truth. She wouldn't be that hostile and full of emotion if she was lying, it wasn’t how she worked. But one line kept running over in his mind again and again.

_You have experience with them._

So, Robin would know who it was, but what kind of experience did he have with them? Was it a bad guy? That didn't really make sense if she was allowed to come and save him. It made more sense if it was someone on their side… but who and why?

Could it be Batman? It would make sense with his need to control every going on within the superhero world, but why would she let him have control over her like that? If that was the case Robin would need to confront the Bat about it, but he couldn't do that without evidence to back himself up. But how could he get evidence? Surveillance from the Batcave? That would be too stupid for Batman to do, to invite Pyro in like that and do everything somewhere where Robin had easy access to the footage.

The Watchtower?

That would make more sense, especially if some of the others were in on it, it would provide a challenge for Robin… but he was always up for a challenge.


	5. Rose Gold

“Oh my god…” Eisa trailed off as Wayne Manor came into view. “You live here?” She asked, turning to Richard as he drove up the driveway.

“Yeah.” He replied, unsure of what else to say.

“I didn't think it would look like this.” Eisa told him, her eyes taking in the dark and intimidating facade of the manor.

“What do you mean?”

“It's just so… gothic. I guess I was expecting it to be a little less like a house from a horror movie.” She replied, nearly hanging from the window of his car.

“Why?” He had never really seen Wayne Manor in any other light than home, so seeing how she reacted was strange to him.

“You drive a rose gold Audi R8, I was expecting the manor to be a little more golden or something.” She told him.

“Sorry to disappoint, I guess…” Richard trailed off, parking in the garage.

“I'm not disappointed, it's still gorgeous in a gothic way but I won't be surprised if it's haunted or anything like that.” She stated as she got out of the car, her bag over her shoulder as she closed the door behind her. Her eyebrows were furrowed as she looked down the length of the garage. “Are they all Bruce’s?” She asked, seeing the many different cars filling the space.

“No, I have the Audi and the Camaro. All of the others are his.” She nodded slowly as she then turned her attention back to him. “I'll show you around.” He told her, a smile coming onto her face as they then walked into the actual manor itself. Alfred was walking around like usual, cleaning things and coming to attention once they entered the room.

“You must be Eisa, it is lovely to meet you.” Alfred stated as he held out his hand towards her, she took it and shook.

“And you must be Alfred, I've heard a lot about you.” She replied, dropping the handshake.

“Likewise.”

“I don't talk about her that much Alfred.” Richard tried to cover himself but it didn't work.

“I'm afraid I'll have to argue the opposite of that, Master Dick.” Richard didn't say anything in response, running a hand through his hair as Eisa looked to him with an idiotic smile on her face. “If you need me for anything just let me know, otherwise I'll make sure my presence is not imposing.”

“Um, could you just let me know when Bruce comes back?” Richard asked.

“Of course, and will our guest be staying for dinner tonight?” The two teens looked at each other.

“I don't want to impose-"

“You can stay, really, it's not a big deal.” Richard cut her off, ignoring the look of discomfort coming from her.

“So it's decided? I was going to cook a lamb roast tonight, would that suit you Miss Eisa?” Alfred asked, and Eisa's brow furrowed once again.

“Miss... “ She trailed off in almost disbelief before remembering that she had been asked a question. “Oh, yeah, a lamb roast sounds great, thank you Alfred.”

“Look, a thank you. I don't get many of those anymore, you should come around more often.” Alfred joked, then leaving the two teens by themselves in the formal lounge room.

“What just happened?” Eisa whispered, then looking towards Richard again. “Where can I get changed?” She asked, they had both come straight from school and still had their uniforms on.

“Um, I'll show you my room, I have a bathroom you can change in, then I'll show you around the place.” She followed him up the stairs, dropping her bag on the floor next to his bed before grabbing her clothes from it and disappearing to the bathroom and closing the door behind herself.  
As she changed he quickly found a pair of grey sweatpants and changed into them before trying to locate a jumper. As he finally did so and began pulling it over his head the bathroom door opened and a quiet voice echoed around the room.

“Oh god.”

“What?” Richard asked as he finished pulling the material over his bare torso.

“I did not intend to see you shirtless, I promise it was an accident.” She told him, her face flushing as she ran a hand over her hair.

“It's okay, really. I don't care.” He replied, wondering why she seemed to be so flustered. “Are you okay?” He asked next as she looked anywhere but at him.

“Yeah, I'm fine... “ She trailed off, still not making eye contact with him. He raised a an eyebrow at her as he realised what was happening. Not that he had experience in the matter since no girl had ever seen him shirtless before, but this was what he imagined it would be like.

“Like what you saw?” He asked, making her face flush an even darker colour. That was enough evidence to prove that she did.

“Shut up, I don't think of you like that.” She tried to fix the situation but it only made it worse.

“Your face is saying is otherwise.” Richard stated, watching as she bit her lip and crossed her arms. Finally she looked him in the eyes.

“I'm sure you would look at me the same if you saw me shirtless.” She told him, and he couldn't argue with that.

“Well, maybe I do think of you in that way.” He told her, knowing that he didn't, at least not yet. He couldn't help but feel like he was beginning too, and he wasn't sure what that meant.

“If you did this friendship wouldn't last very long.” She stated, finally seeming to have calmed down.

“I hope that it wouldn't change anything, because I wouldn't act on it if it wasn't reciprocated. I can live with being in the friend zone.” He told her, finally taking in what she was wearing, a pair of dark grey skinny jeans and a white, band hoodie.

“Let's hope so..” She trailed off, putting her school uniform into her bag before looking back at him. “So what's the plan?”

“I was thinking we could watch some movies or something, unless you have homework to do…” He trailed off.

“We're both ahead in every class, I think we can spend one night not doing homework.” She replied.

“Okay, then I'll give you a quick tour of the place before we get started.” She nodded her head in agreement and with excitement. He then began showing her around, taking her to each room and making sure that she had the place mapped out in her head so she wouldn't get lost. They finished up back on his room before going to the kitchen, stocking up on snacks and drinks before disappearing to the home theatre room.

“What do you want to watch?” He asked her, she shook her head as she already had a mouthful of popcorn.

“Anything besides a romantic, drama filled thing. Those movies get on my nerves.” She answered after swallowing the popcorn.

“Okay, well…”

“Do you have a PlayStation?” She asked.

“You want to play a game?”

“Choosing something to watch might be a little hard.” She replied bluntly, and he couldn't agree more.

“Okay, hang on just let me find the remote controls.” He said, turning the flashlight on on his phone before going to just under the projector screen and coming back. “One for you and one for me.” He stated before sitting down next to her again.

“What games do you have?” She asked next.

“We'll see what's already in, see if that's any good before rattling off choices.” Richard replied.

“Good idea.” Eisa agreed, seeing the home screen come up on the screen. “Ooh, Call Of Duty. We could kill each other a lot of times in a row.” She added.

“Do you want to do that?” He checked.

“Why not?” The question was rhetorical so he went into the game, setting up multiplayer mode and pitting their avatars against each other.

It was a few hours and different games later that Alfred came into the room, announcing that dinner was ready. The two eagerly jumped up and made their way to the dining room quickly. Once they arrived there they found that Bruce was sitting at the end of the table, an awkward silence suddenly consumed the once laughter filled air.

“Eisa, it's nice to meet you.” Bruce stated in a tone too similar to his Batman voice.

“And you too Mr Wayne.” She replied as she went to pull out a chair, but Richard got to it first, pulling it out for her and pushing it back in once she was seated.

“Please, call me Bruce.” Eisa nodded in reply, looking to Richard as he sat down across from her. She shifted in her seat, seeming uncomfortable in the situation, although Alfred seemed to notice nothing as he came out with three plates of food to set down upon the already set up table.

“Would you like a drink, Miss Eisa?” Alfred asked as he placed her plate down.

“Um, orange juice if you have any… or water will be fine, thank you.” She answered, Alfred smiled at her before disappearing to the kitchen again and returning with a glass of orange juice for her. “Thank you, Alfred.”

“So, I hear you're making the most of the scholarship. I'm getting good feedback from the school and from Dick.” Bruce said as she began to cut unto her potatoes.

“Oh, yeah, I'm very grateful. I wouldn't want to waste an opportunity like this one.” She replied, taking her first bite of the food.

“I normally don't get to speak with the recipient face to face so it's good to hear that from you.” Bruce told her, her shoulders loosening as she became more relaxed. “So are you liking Gotham Academy? I hope it didn't take much to adjust…”

“Oh I love it there, I didn't really have friends at my old school so there was no real emotional attachment there. It was quite an easy transition, Richard is probably the main reason behind that. He's become a good friend of mine.” She replied, looking over to the mentioned teenager with a smile on her face.

“As long as you're getting on well, that's all that matters.” Bruce responded, silence followed then, only broken by the sounds of cutlery against crockery. Bruce was the first to finish and left the table soon after, the two teens finished at roughly the same time, so Richard took the dishes to the kitchen as Eisa took the challenge of making it back to the home theatre without getting lost by herself.

“Why didn't you tell me he was home?” Richard asked Alfred after making sure they were alone.

“You seemed to be enjoying yourself with Miss Eisa, I didn't want to ruin that for you.” Alfred replied, and Richard understood, in fact he was thankful, but a little warning would have been nice.

“I could hear thunder before, is there a storm?” Richard asked next.

“Yes, it's getting rather bad out there. If Eisa stays for much longer she may get stuck here for the night.” Alfred replied.

“I'll let her know. Thanks for dinner, Alfred.” Richard replied before going back to the theatre room, he was just about to walk in when Bruce intercepted his path. “What is it?”

“I know that you don't quite understand where I'm coming from with all of my rules and why I'm so adamant on that one specific one…” He started.

“Where are you going with this?” Richard asked.

“Well, I don't want to say that you can't trust her, but before you get into anything too serious just make sure that you can. Make sure that you know who she is, make sure she isn't being sent to spy on you, make sure that she can keep secrets if you ever tell her yours.” Bruce stated.

“Eisa and I are just friends, but it's nice to know that you can trust me to make my own decisions.” Richard replied, his tone somewhere on the line between serious and sarcastic.

“Just… be careful.” Bruce told him, placing a hand on his shoulder before walking away. Richard shook his head before going back into the theatre room, finding that Eisa had indeed made her way back without getting lost. She was sitting with her phone in hand, eyes glued to the screen.

“Apparently a really bad storm just hit… but I can barely hear anything in here.” Eisa stated once she saw him enter the room.

“Yeah, the walls for this room are soundproof, anyway I can take you home before it gets any worse if you want-”

“I don't think you could…” She trailed off, seeming to be watching a news report.

“Why?” He asked, sitting next to her and looking at the screen.

“Is this not the only road back to Gotham from here that they're showing?” She asked, angling the screen towards him to allow for a clearer view of the deep flooding over the road from a creek that connects to a dam which had probably burst due to the amount of rain.

“Yep, that would be the one.” He replied.

“Well, I guess I'm stuck here for the night.”

***  
He woke to his phone’s message tone, it was still dark outside so he ignored it until a second sound followed, he grabbed his phone and check the screen, seeing two texts from Eisa and that it was 3:27 in the morning. She was asking if he was awake, so he replied with ‘yes’. She was sleeping in the spare room across the hall from his own, so he could hear her footsteps making their way to his door which slowly opened.

“Did I wake you? I didn't realise how loud it would be…” Her voice came out in a whisper as he turned on his bedside lamp.

“It's fine, what's wrong?” He asked as she entered the room and closed the door behind herself. As she turned back around, even in the minimal light from the dull bulb, he was able to see her cheeks once again flush.

“Do you have to sleep without a shirt on? It's bloody freezing.” She stated, holding her arms closer to her body as she spoke, since she didn't bring pyjamas with her she was borrowing one of Richard's sweatshirts, although her legs were bare.

“You don't have pants on so…” He trailed off.

“You have a point there.” She replied, looking around the room before looking back at him. “Do you have a spare pair of earphones I could borrow?” She asked,  which he found to be strange for this time of night.

“Earphones?” He asked.

“Yeah, I get these nightmares, thing is that they're silent… the only way to get myself back to sleep is if I listen to music and I don't really want to play it out loud and I forgot to take my earphones to school so I don't have any with me.” She told him.

“Oh, um, hang on.” He stood up, going to his desk and finding a pair screwed up in knots upon the oak. “Sorry they're tangled…” He trailed off.

“It's fine, thank you.” She stated before going to go back to the spare room.

“Um, if you don't want to be alone you don't have to. I can sleep on the floor and you can have the bed if you need to…” He trailed off, she shook her head

“I'm not going to kick you out of the bed-"

“Well I would say that we could share but I didn't think you'd like that option.” He cut her off.

“I'd prefer that over kicking you onto the floor, but it's okay. I usually deal with this by myself so I think I can handle it. Goodnight Richard.” She stated, her eyes absent-mindedly running down his chest before shooting back up to his eyes again.

“Goodnight Eisa.” He replied, trying to not look at her legs as she walked out of the room but failing.

It was an hour later that he heard the door open and close again, feeling the mattress move along with the sheets as Eisa climbed into the bed, although the both of them pretended it never happened in the morning after he woke to find her back in the spare room.


	6. Phorcys and Peitho

It was the day after Eisa had stayed over that they took a detour on the way back to her orphanage. They sat in a cafe which was warmed by a wood burning fire, it was still only Autumn, but the storm had only just calmed down and still left a chill in the air.

Eisa had a cappuccino, while Dick had a short black, the two having comfortable conversation like normal. It always seemed to be so easy between the two of them, and Dick trusted her nearly completely. The fact that he didn't know everything about her didn't seem to be a concern to him, somehow the mystery surrounding her was keeping him close to her… it's probably the detective part of him that found it enticing. Not that ‘enticing’ was the right word, but it was the closest he could think of to describe the situation.

“You don't think that Pyro is a bad guy?” He asked, somehow their conversation had headed towards heroes and villains, and of course because it had done so he had to bring up Pyro and her recent return.

“No… she does what she needs to in order to get ahead, to keep herself, and others, safe. It's just not in a typical way. At least that's what I understand.” She replied before taking a sip of her coffee.

“I thought I was the only one who believed that, thank you.” Richard replied, feeling his phone vibrate in his pocket, he quickly looked at the screen but proceeded to ignore it as he saw it was a message from Bruce.

“Important?” She asked, seeing how he had looked at the screen.

“Probably, but I don't really care at the moment.” He answered.

“Is everything okay?” She questioned, his mind trailing to the entire situation surrounding her and everything going on with Pyro.

“Yeah, domestic problems.” He answered, watching her eyebrows furrow.

“I don't believe you, but if you don't want to tell me that's-" Eisa was cut off by Richard's phone beginning to ring. If Bruce was calling him it must be something extremely important.

“Sorry…” He trailed off, hearing a faint reply from her as he walked outside and answered the call.

“There's something happening I need you and the Titans to take care of… I'm otherwise occupied and so is most of the League, anyway, they're teens so it's sort of your domain. The pair are terrorising the mall it should be coming through on your alert system.” Richard was going to respond but the call ended, so he was left to go onto his alerts page and double check.

Bruce hadn't been lying.

Richard went back into the cafe, apologising to Eisa for having to leave before making sure she could find a way back home. She assured him that she could, telling him to go and she'd catch up with him later.

***

“What's going on?” Robin asked as he arrived on scene.

“The two that we caught on camera at the warehouse… well, they're here and they apparently want our attention.” Cyborg answered, water flooding the mall.

“And apparently there's a third one.” Raven added, eyeing off the hydrokinetic.

“Do we know anything about them yet?”

“One is hydrokinetic, one doesn't seem to have powers and the third one… well, I'll let you find out.” Raven replied, taking to the air to launch an attack at the hydrokinetic.

“Which one is without powers?” Rob asked Cyborg.

“One in the middle, but she's got some bite.” He answered, going for the third one. Starfire was working with Raven against the hydrokinetic, Beast Boy was working with Cyborg… so Robin guessed he had the middle one. She had red hair, although that was all he could make out from this distance. Although that distance was closed within a matter of seconds and he was taken aback…

“Eisa?” He asked, watching as her head flew back with laughter before she kicked his stomach, sending him flying backwards through the air.

“Sweetheart, you wish I was Eisa.” The girl replied, waiting for him to stand up before kicking him back down again. He was beyond confused, and that confusion nearly overwhelmed his sense to fight back.

But he managed to fix that.

As he stood up once again he saw her fist flying towards his face, which he dodged easily. He didn't do much attacking, more just avoiding her efforts and learning her patterns.

“You are starting to get on my nerves…” She trailed off, changing her pattern and clocking his side with her shin. Knocked off balance she punched his cheek, aiming to get another blow in but it never came. A ball of flames hit her in the chest, throwing her across the centre of the mall.

 _She isn't who she looks like, it's her ability_. The familiar voice echoed in his mind and he turned to see Pyro with a disinterested look on her face.

“Allowed to come save our arses were you?” She didn't respond to his question.

“Pyro! How pleasant to see you!” The hydrokinetic shouted. She stayed silent, her body engulfed in flames as she hovered above the water covering the entirety of the floor. “Oh, that's right… vow of silence.”

 _Not silence, you idiot_. Her voice rang clear through Robin's head, and from the confused expression on everyone's face inside the mall he was guessing they all heard it too.

“Phorcys, not ‘idiot’ just so you know.” The guy tried to seem cool in his reply but he was talking to Pyro…

 _I'm aware, but there's no way I will ever call you that… which you already know_. The fire surrounding her body seemed to get brighter as she spoke, getting hotter as she became more agitated. What is it that you want dear cousin?

“Wanted some attention, I thought that was obvious. We don't live together anymore ands I don't see you that often.” He replied, his eyes moving to the form of the person who looked like Eisa. “Now, attacking Peitho like that was rather rude, don't you think?”

 _In all honesty… no_. Pyro replied, looking to the third person to make up the trio. _I expected better from you…_ she trailed off, that third person seeming to step back and hang their head in shame. _Now, you guys have about five seconds to get rid of the water in here and get rid of yourselves before I burn you to a crisp._

She began counting down, Phorcys’ expression turning to anger before taking the threat seriously and leaving the mall, Peitho and the third person following suit.

“You aren’t going to run away again, are you?” Robin asked Pyro who shook her head.

 _I need to explain some things. I'll meet you at the tower_. She stated, flying out of the mall as soon as she finished her sentence.

***

“So now she's coming in here…” Raven spoke with a sense of spite in her tone.

“She knows more about these people than we do. That was clear from the way they knew her.” Robin defended Pyro.

“That would be because they're cousins, or was I the only one who heard that?” Raven replied.

“You weren't the only one, but I don't see what that has to do with anything… your father is Trigon and we don't hold that against you.” Robin felt he had a strong point, and everyone else in the room had a silent aura around them which exhumed hostility.

“We trust Raven, we don’t trust Pyro.” Cyborg replied, so Robin looked to the one person who he thought would back him up.

“Star?” He asked, watching as her head hung, her eyes focused on the floor. “You too, huh?”

“I am sorry, Robin, but it is true.” She stated, not making eye contact with him at all.

“You know what, it’s okay. You guys don’t have to trust her, just… don’t hold the past against her, she’s changed, I can feel it.” He told them.

 _You’re not wrong…_ her voice trailed off in his head, out of fear of looking idiotic he didn’t reply in case it was just in his mind and not the others.

“Why would we believe that?” Raven asked.

 _I don’t blame you for the way you feel about me, but it is starting to get on my nerves. I did what I had to back then, I always did what was right for me no matter the consequences… but I’m not like that anymore. I don’t care whether you trust me or not but you need to be able to work with me, you’ll need my help soon enough._ Her voice once again echoed in the Titans minds, Pyro finally entering the room through the doors.

“We don’t need your help-”

 _Slade, the Joker, the other idiotic teens and now Peitho and Phorcys. You’re losing grip on your city, you need some form of help and I can be that for you. With Peitho and Phorcys… I know them, I understand them and what they can do. Even if I only help you until that situation is sorted, it’s better than nothing._ She told them, not a single trace of flame over her body. Her hair fell down to her waist in loose waves of red, matte black on her lips and nails with black eyeshadow surrounding her fiery irises.

“Guys, she has a point.” Robin was surprised that it was Beast Boy to come to his aid in this situation, but he was the most forgiving of the Titans.

 _Let me prove to you that you can trust me, and once we get rid of Phorcys and Peitho you can make your mind up as to whether I stay or whether you kick me out_. She bargained, and the others couldn’t really refuse. They needed her help, whether they would admit it or not, and this way they could find out for sure what side she was on.

“Start by telling us what you know about the three people from the mall.” Cyborg stated, so Pyro walked over to the main computer, pulling up surveillance pictures onto the main screen.

_You don’t need to worry about one of them, the third one that seemed hesitant. I talked to him, he won’t be joining the other two again._

“How do you know them all?” Raven asked, watching as pictures of Peitho and Phorcys came on screen.

 _We are all family, we are all divine children_. Pyro replied without hesitation.

“Children of Gods?” Raven asked, almost like she didn’t believe her.

 _Yes, of Greek Gods. That’s why we have powers._ She explained. _There are many of us, we all know each other, a majority of us live together but… we have very different views. Phorcys is the son of Poseidon, I would tell you the real names of these people but I’m enchanted to secrecy, anyway, Phorcys controls water, the seas. Peitho is the daughter of Aphrodite, as you could probably tell she looked different to the each of you… it’s almost like a glamour charm, but a lot stronger and permanent. She looks like who you are most attracted to, it’s a way of forcing down your guard and giving her power over you. The only way to see what she really looks like is to break her hold over you… that can be through falling in love with someone or knocking her unconscious, once you see what she really looks like her powers no longer work on you._

“What about the third guy? I never actually found out what he could do.” Robin asked, looking at the others before looking back to Pyro.

 _He is the son of Hades and Persephone, they raised him but he left the Underworld to live a life here. He can manipulate death and has a limited control over plants due to Persephone’s affiliation with Spring_. She explained, the others nodding.

“What are they trying to achieve?” Starfire asked, seeming awkward in Pyro’s presence.

 _Control, they believe that because they are the children of Gods they should have the right to control the planet. The thing is, they could easily convince many other demi-gods to go onto their side. I won’t be swayed, I have a set path I need to follow to be accepted in Olympus as even existing…_ She trailed off.

“Who are you the child of?” Raven asked.

 _It’s a bit complicated, I’ll explain at a later date, that’s a promise. I just need to be able to trust you as much as you need to trust me_. Pyro was looking directly into Robin’s eyes as she spoke, making him wonder why that was.

“So, now we’re facing demi-gods… that’s new.” Cyborg stated, Pyro’s eyes then snapping to meet his.

_You better get used to it, because I have a feeling their ranks are going to become very strong very quickly._


	7. Hidden Agendas

It was the first time Eisa was able to walk around Gotham Academy by herself, taking in the people without the constant commentary from Richard Grayson. He was a great friend, but sometimes she just needed some room to breathe and get her mind back on track. Especially since Richard provided such a distraction. She had to keep reminding herself what she was doing here, and the opportunity she had to prove her worth to those she sought approval from. She couldn't let something as simple as faint feelings to get in her way. But even as she told herself that she couldn't care about anyone, he always managed to make her forget for moments at a time. Her cousin constantly had to tell her what she was risking by even contemplating just a permanent friendship with Richard, but she didn't care. Five years, five years she had spent wallowing in sorrow, alone, without friends because it wouldn't help her advance in what she aimed to achieve. But now she had one, and she didn't want to end that just yet. She went to each class that day without him there, which was confusing. He never missed school, and even more confusing was that she had no messages from him to explain his absence. Eisa accepted it and moved on, he would tell her in due time, but something else happened. A group of boys turned up and surrounded her. "So, you've been hanging out with dork boy..." One of them said, by studying the group for just a second she was able to tell that he seemed to be the pack leader. Instead of saying anything she tilted her head sideways, trying to understand what was happening. Obviously he was talking about Richard, but she didn't know what classified him as a dork when part of being accepted into the academy was intelligence. "You know you can do better than him, right? With a face like that you could get anyone you wanted, even me." He then stated, as if it would increase the level of attraction Eisa would have to him. "You really think so?" Eisa asked as if she were falling for his little attempt at earning her respect...or something of the like. "I know so. All you'd have to do was drop Dick, and we would be the strongest couple in the school." Oh, you have no idea. That was the only thought that Eisa had as he spoke once again. "Wow, I'm so flattered. So you say I could have anyone I wanted, even you?" She questioned, the guy she still didn't know and didn't care to know the name of nodded. "Well, what makes you think I would want you?" She asked next, her eyebrows furrowed. There was no snap in her tone, that wasn't how she worked. It was put across as a genuine question. "Everyone wants me." The young man responded. "But why? What's so good about you compared to... Richard, for example? What makes you the better option?" He seemed to be speechless as she finished her mini questioning. "Well, I can see you definitely don't have better brains than him, since they've stopped working by the looks of things. You don't seem to have more respect for other people than he does, that's very important to me so that's currently two points for Richard. He is also loyal, which I know you aren't since you have a 'girlfriend' and you're trying to convince me to be with you. He also has enough self-confidence to be attractive, not come across as arrogant and rude like you do. Now, if you wouldn't mind, I have to get to my next class on time, advanced physics won't just stick in my brain like a nursery rhyme I'm sure you're used to hearing." She finished speaking, going to walk past him and one of his friends, but suddenly there were two pairs of hands on her arms. She rolled her eyes, taking a deep breath to keep calm before looking to one of them, she didn't want to lose control and screw this up yet. "I thought we were all in senior year, this is a bit beneath you." Eisa told him, going to walk again but being pulled back and then being pushed up against a set of lockers. She shook her head, not in the least bit afraid or intimidated. She'd been in worse situations before. "You will leave Grayson, and you will-" "No, I don't want to." Eisa cut him off, looking past his shoulder to see her books on the ground. "You wouldn't mind picking them up for me, would you?" "You aren't in a position to-" "You don't know that for sure. You don't know what I'm capable of, darling, and you don't want to know. So, I'll give you five seconds to get off of me, or I'm going to let you know exactly what I'm able to do." He seemed a little shaken at her words but didn't move a muscle. "Five, four..." She began counting, staring directly into his eyes, she could see him beginning to panic. "Three, two..." He still didn't let go of her. "One." Well, he couldn't say she didn't warn him. She immediately used her head to hit him square in the face, his hands then letting go of her arms as he held his now bleeding nose. "You bitch!" He shouted, Eisa just shrugged her shoulders at the insult. She'd been called worse. "Would you be a dear and pick those books up for me?" She asked nonchalantly, as if she hadn't just potentially broken his nose. That seemed to anger him more, and he went to punch her. She easily caught his forearm and twisted it behind his body, pulling back extra hard for good measure, making his shoulder feel like it would pop out of its socket at any moment. "If you do so much as look in my direction again I will do a lot worse than this, understood?" She asked him, he nodded in reply. "Good, same goes if I hear you talking about Richard like that ever again. You could only hope to be half the man he is." She told him, dropping his arm before looking at the rest of his so-called friends. "Guess I'll pick them up, shall I?" She referred to the books that were still sitting on the ground, grabbing them before walking to AP Physics like nothing had happened, because in her mind that was barely anything. It was the next day things turned out to be more eventful, Richard was back at school, explaining he had to help Bruce with secret business stuff the day before. Seeing the person who had harassed her the day before with a bruised nose and black eyes from a fracture in his nose lead to Richard wanting an explanation of what had happened while he was gone. After some protest from Eisa he eventually got the story, to which he was immediately on edge about. She explained that she had self-defence training from a young age which calmed him down, and he was even more so when she said that she was completely fine. She wouldn't lie to him, she couldn't, and he trusted her words. *** "You're trying to tell me what exactly?" Eisa questioned, looking Richard directly in the eye as he spoke. "I'm saying that I could just... always be around you and never leave you alone again." Richard responded, his expression serious. "You're more freaked out over what happened than I am, and I was the one who was there. I can take care of myself and I'm fairly sure that I proved that." Eisa told him. "But what if multiple of them decide to-" "I can take care of myself, Richard. Anyway, what can you do if say five of them went for me at once? Gymnastics isn't going to help you in that situation. Unless you're secretly Robin-" his face showed some form of unknown emotion "-or something idiotic like that you can't help me, not that I would need that help." She stated, watching his expression fall. "You're a great friend, but I don't need or want a protector." "But-" "Richard, just leave it alone. I'm fine, you're the one who seems to have a problem about it, if it's because you weren't there to stop it from happening in the first place then you need to calm down about it. You can't be around me every hour of every day, and that's fine. You just need to know that I am capable of protecting myself if these situations do arise. Don't worry about me." She wanted to tell him more than just that, prove that she was more than capable of keeping herself safe, but it would mean telling him a secret she couldn't tell anyone. Wasn't allowed to tell anyone. Her cousin would kill her, literally. His phone then started ringing, he grimaced before answering. She pretended she wasn't listening but was absorbing every word like she was supposed to. He was being pulled out of school, by Bruce, for whatever reason that would have to do with his 'extra-curriculars'. "I'm sorry, I have to go." He stated, picking up his bag while still on the phone. "Okay, I'll see you later then." She stated. "Yeah, see ya." Richard said before nearly running away. She wanted to follow him, but it wouldn't be best to. She already had an idea of where he was going, after all... She knew he was the Boy Wonder. *** Reaching home always lifted a weight off of her shoulders, here she was surrounded by people like her, abandoned but together, supporting each other but never imposing each other's personal space. The first thing she did was go to her room in the mansion-like house, they were all without parents, but they were left with a place to live and with endless amounts of food, drinks and money. All of them were considered family, each sharing the same last name and each seeing the others as brothers and sisters. As Eisa finally reached her room on the top floor she began playing music through her speaker, nodding her head to the beat as she got onto her phone, plugging her earphones in as she hacked the communication devices that the Teen Titans wore. She could easily hear their conversation, Raven with her usual pessimism, Starfire with her broken English, Beast Boy and his childish speaking and Cyborg with his signature sass. Of course there was Robin, Richard Grayson, in fact she knew Beast Boy's real name too, Garfield Logan. She felt honoured to know she was one of the few to know this, going to the files on her bookshelf which held their information inside. She studied them, as she was told to, finding out everything she could about them, as she was told too. She hated not having a choice in the matter, but she needed the help of those instructing her. "Rob, could you please focus for just a minute? We need to actually find Slade again since you lost him." Raven snapped through Eisa's headphones. "Where's your head at man?" Beast Boy asked, his voice somewhat gentle due to his nature. "I don't know..." Eisa imagined Richard shaking his head as he spoke. "If it's because of Pyro-" "It's not Pyro, trust me." Robin cut Raven off, suddenly the words she had never hoped to hear came through her earphones. "Guys, someone's hacked our comms, get them out, now." Cyborg's voice rang clear and true before silence followed. "Shit." Eisa swore as she ripped the earphones out and got out of the system, turning the phone off and running over what she had done. They wouldn't be able to find out that it was her, it was a burner phone that had no number and bounced off of towers all over Gotham, they wouldn't be able to locate where the signal originated from. She took a deep breath, running a hand through her hair before looking out the window. Maybe they would think it was someone else, there are many different people who would want inside information and want to take down the Titans. Someone knocked on her bedroom door, breaking her from her thoughts as she went to see who it was. "Food's ready." A maid told her, well I guess 'maid' wasn't the correct term but it was the closest she could think of. "Thank you, I will be down shortly." Eisa replied with a gentle smile, hiding her minor panic. She then closed the door again, turning to look at the wall plastered with pictures of the Titans. She didn't know why she had to get all of this information on them, but she didn't care. She was getting the help she needed, and that was all that mattered. 


	8. Spar

It never takes much to know when something's changed, as Richard walked into school he knew something was different, but he didn't realise what until he saw her. Her head was thrown back as she laughed, talking to someone she knew from one of her classes.

His feelings towards her had changed.

He took a deep breath, wanting to kick himself. He knew this would happen, he knew he would ruin the near perfect friendship he had with Eisa, all because he would end up wanting more with her.

As he watched her he tried to push it down, but he couldn't. She was the most beautiful person he had seen in his entire life. Not that he didn't think that before, but it was different now.

He continued watching her as she looked over her shoulder and made eye contact with him, a smile spreading on her face before she turned back to the person she was talking to and bid her goodbye. She walked over to Richard, nudging his side as he still didn't move.

“Are you okay?” Eisa asked, a smile coming onto Richard's face as she finished the question.

“I'm great, are you okay?” He questioned, watching as she shook her head.

“I'm fine, it's you who was standing here like an idiot with a strange look on your face. I assumed something wasn't right, obviously I was wrong.” She replied, still smiling as she looked up at his eyes.

“Everything's perfect, now let's get to class.”

***

Ever since Eisa told him about her encounter with the idiot she gave a black eye to, he had been extremely wary of their surroundings. He didn't want her getting hurt, but he also didn't want to be acting like Robin when he was supposed to be Richard.

He knew she could take care of herself, but it was hard for him to believe it without witnessing for himself. As he sat next to Eisa in the cafeteria he couldn't help bringing an idea up.

“Spar with me…” He trailed off, out of the blue and earning a look of confusion.

“You mean as in facials, right? I didn't think you were that kind of person, but I won't judge.” She replied.

“No, not ‘spa’, I mean-"

“I know what you meant, I was making a joke.” She cut him off. “Anyway, why would you want to spar with me? This better not be about the guy that I still don't know the name of.”

“What if it is?” Richard asked, earning a groan of annoyance from Eisa.

“We are not going over this again, not now.” She told him, but he now had a way to bargain with her.

“If you spar with me I'll never bring it up again.” Eisa rolled her eyes. “Look, I've had self-defence training from the week Bruce adopted me, I won't be defenceless against you.”

“Okay, but only if you swear to it.” She set the final condition.

“I swear I won't bring it up again.” Eisa nodded her head slowly, seeming to believe him.

“Okay, when do you want to do this?”

“Well, are you free after school?”

“We were going to do physics work together, so I suppose so.” Eisa answered, shrugging her shoulders.

“Great, do you have spare clothes?” He checked.

“Well, I have a sports bra and leggings… I was going to go to the gym before yours.” She replied.

“Cool, well I can pick you up from the gym if you-"

“We can just go straight to your place.” She cut him off with a smile clear on her face. “You're going to get your ass kicked.”

“We'll see about that.”

“We shall.” She once again smiled, taking another bite of her jelly.

***

“So, once again I am taken into the manor, which creeps me out just as much as the first time.” Eisa stated as she made her way out of the car, walking herself into the house. Alfred was in the front room, ready to greet the two teens.

“Lovely to see you again Miss Eisa.”

“Lovely to see you too Alfred.” She replied, a genuine smile on her face as she said it.

“Master Dick.” Alfred greeted Richard next.

“Hi Alfred, is Bruce home?”

“No, Master Bruce will not be coming home until tomorrow, a sudden business trip came up.” Alfred explained.

“Okay, thank you.”

“Will you be staying for dinner tonight?” Alfred turned to Eisa, looking for a response.

“Um, if that's alright with you.” Eisa replied.

“It suits me very well, now go and have fun, I will let you know when dinner is ready.” Alfred told the two, then leaving to continue whatever he was doing.

“He doesn't know I'm about to kick your ass, does he?” Eisa asked.

“Even if he did, he probably would have said the same thing.” Richard answered, looking her in the eyes. “We can do what we did last time, we can go to my room, get changed and then go to the gym room.” Eisa nodded in agreement, already beginning to walk towards the stairs.

She immediately disappeared into the bathroom once they reached his room, closing the door behind her. He was quietly hoping for a repeat of last time, but he knew it wasn't likely to happen. He quickly changed into what he normally wore for practice, a tank top and skins with his trainers. He heard the bathroom door open slowly.

“It's safe.” He said, the door then fully opening to show Eisa in her clothing. Her midriff was bare. “Never mind, it's not safe.”

“What?”

“You're going to have to put a shirt on.”

“Excuse me?” She asked, a hand on her hip.

“Well, unless I'm allowed to run around shirtless, so we can distract each other with skin-"

“You can do whatever the hell you want, just like I'm going to by wearing this. Now get your shit together and let's go spar.” She told him, pulling her hair into a ponytail.

“Um…” He trailed off, unable to stop her as she exited the room and began heading for the gym room. She had been at the manor for a total of six minutes and he had already failed at not letting his newfound feelings to affect their relationship. Who knows what else could happen within the next few hours.

He got to the gym, finding her stretching.

“Sorry…” He trailed off, she turned to face him.

“It's fine, if you really want me to put a shirt on I can.” She told him, but he shook his head.

“No, it's alright. You can wear whatever you want." She raised an eyebrow at him.

“Okay, well we're going to need to set some rules… no shoes, no blows to the face or ‘sensitive’ areas.” Eisa started, and he was thankful for the last addition. “Anything else?”

“Go until tap out or final blow?” He asked.

“Thought that was obvious but okay.” She agreed. They both walked to the mat, taking off their shoes and socks before standing opposite sides from each other.

“I'm sorry if I hurt you…” Richard stated.

“You won't, but same to you.” Eisa replied. “Ready?” She asked, he nodded, and she immediately ran towards him, forcing him against the ground in one movement by pushing against his throat. “Surely you're better than-"

She was cut off by Richard getting his forearm into her stomach, winding her. She took a step back, giving him time to stand before she tried kicking his chest. He caught her foot, not that it mattered since she was able to keep balanced on one leg, he dropped her foot, watching as her hands curled into fists. She aimed her punch to his abdomen, but the movement was blocked before she sidestepped, moving quickly to get behind him and kick the back of his knees.

He was about to retaliate but was unable to as she forced him onto his back, her body over his as her hands held his wrists above his head.

“Ready to tap out?” She asked with a smile on her face.

“Never.” He replied, managing to use a move that he hadn't done in a long time. He brought his legs up, catching them around her shoulders and forcing her off of him. “Didn't think I could still do that…” He trailed off.

Eisa was now aware that getting him to the ground wouldn't work, a new plan was formulating in her head as she stood up, watching Richard's every move carefully.

She swiped at his shoulder, he dodged, she swiped again, he dodged. He didn't realise that with every dodge that he was taking a step back, a step closer to the wall, until it was too late. She managed to kick him in the chest, forcing him against the cement wall. She moved quickly, once again grabbing both of his wrists and placing them against the wall before forcing herself between his legs so he couldn't kick her.

The two didn't say anything, just looking the other in the eyes while trying to ignore the close proximity… it was extremely difficult for Richard, feeling her this close, her body heat through his tank top and her breath against his neck. He didn't break eye contact with her though, at least not until she did to look at his lips for just a second.

So, he did the same, looking down to her pink lips and trying to interpret the signals he thought he was receiving from her. From the way she bit her lip to how shaky her breath was he was sure that she wanted what he did…

He tilted his head down, brushing his nose against hers before connecting their lips ever so gently…

She didn't respond to the contact for a moment, seeming to be in shock until she pushed away from him. Taking three slow steps away from him she seemed to be bewildered.

“What did you just…” She couldn't speak, her breathing to heavy to finish her sentence.

“I thought…” Richard didn't know what to say, he was sure that the feeling was mutual between them if even just in that moment.

“You... “ Eisa rubbed a hand over her face, looking around the room. “I have to go.” She stated quickly.

“I'll take you home-"

“No!” She covered her mouth, clearly not meaning for the word to come out that loudly.

“Alfred can take you home then, if you want to go.” Richard stated, Eisa nodded in response, immediately leaving the room.

Richard was then left alone with his own thoughts. He should never have done that, should never have kissed her… but he did, and now he would have to live with it. He ran a hand through his hair before turning to the wall, unleashing his anger by punching into it, leaving pieces crumbling and blood staining it.

He didn't care about the pain in his hand, the emotional pain he felt far outweighed it.


	9. Advice and Eve

Robin entered the main room in the Tower, immediately becoming defensive when he saw Pyro labouring over the main screen.

_You do remember I'm working with you guys, right?_ As she spoke it came back to him, the Titans agreeing to receive help from Pyro just on the demigod problem.

"Yeah, I just have to get used to this is all." He told her.

 _No one else is here, if you were looking for someone._ She told him, answering what was going to be his next question.

"Cool, do you know when they'll be back?" He asked, walking to stand next to her as she looked through coding for their system.

 _No idea._ She replied simply.

"What are you doing?" He questioned, not knowing why she would need to go through the system codes or how she got to them in the first place.

 _Phorcys and Peitho obviously have a way in, I'm trying to find it since no one else can._ She answered, eyes trailing over codes.

"Oh..."

 _Was there something you wanted?_ She asked, making Robin laugh.

"Advice, but I doubt you'll want to give me any." He told her, watching as she finally turned away from the screen to look at him. She looked concerned.

_What kind of advice are you wanting?_

"Girl advice..." He trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck. Pyro stood for a moment, frozen as if she didn't know what to do.

 _And why would a guy like you need advice on that front?_ It took a few seconds for her to get the sentence out, seemingly taken aback by the clarification.

"I messed up, although I'm not entirely sure how, I just know I did. I want to know how to fix it." Her eyes flashed away from him for a moment before focusing on his obscured eyes once again.

 _What happened?_ She asked, folding her arms over her chest. That was when he noticed that she was wearing civilian clothes, a pair of black, ripped skinny jeans, a black, skin tight shirt and a cropped leather jacket. She still had her mask on, to make sure her identity was still secret.

"There's this girl, she's amazing... perfect, um, we got into a situation, by means of we were really close. I thought I had gotten a signal from her, I moved towards her to kiss her... made the slightest contact and then she pulled away as if I had burnt her. She hasn't texted me or responded to my messages, she hasn't picked up when I've called." Pyro ran a hand over her hair as she looked at him, she could feel his distress through telepathy and she knew that behind the mask he was close to crying. "She might not even be safe and I wouldn't know."

 _First things first, I know who you are so if you want to cry you can take your mask off._ She told him.

"What if you're-"

 _I'm not saying it so I can find out, Richard Grayson, I'm telepathic remember?_ She cut him off, so he took off the mask. There was no point keeping it on if he didn't have to. His eyes were bloodshot, dark circles surrounded his startling blue irises. He hadn't slept since the incident, how could he? He was worried, he didn't know if she was safe, all he knew was that Alfred dropped her off at the cafe they always went to at her request, that was it. Since then she could have been taken, hit by a car, robbed, murdered...

 _She's probably fine._ Pyro cut off his train of thought.

"But I don't know that for sure-"

 _Richard, just stop for a second. She's fine, you need to stop worrying, she just wants her distance for the moment._ She explained, but he shook his head.

"No, we talk about everything, we work through it together-"

 _Until you kissed her._ He shut up after that. _Women are complicated beings, but once you figure us out it's pretty easy to understand. What sign did she give you in the first place?_

"The way she looked at me, her breath was as shaky as mine was... it just felt right." He told Pyro, watching as she slipped her mask off.

 _This isn't what I actually look like, it's a glamour charm and I probably look similar to someone you know, that's how it works._ She told him as he was staring at someone who could pass for Eisa's sister. _How did she look at you? Like this?_ She asked, her expression changing to mirror exactly what Eisa had looked like.

"Yeah..." He trailed off, studying her features. Her face seemed more childlike than Eisa's, her face that little bit fuller, her skin covered in freckles.

 _Well, she may have wanted it, but something happened in her mind. She didn't push you away immediately, so she wanted that contact until something got in the way. She probably just needs some time, when she's ready she'll come to you. She knows she can trust you, and she won't let what you have together go to waste_.

"You really think so?" He checked, not wanting to ruin anything with Eisa.

_I know so, she'll find you when she's sorted her own shit out. Don't press too hard or she may never come back._

***

Eisa flicked the hood over her head as she stood on the rooftop, this was the normal meeting place, so he had better be here or she would-

"What's the problem this time?" His surprisingly deep voice echoed to her ears. "Did some other kid threaten you?"

"No, John." She told him, once again he was jumping to conclusions.

"What is it then?"

"I've lost track of my goal..." She trailed off, her hands in her pockets as they conversed over the empty space of a few meters.

"How so?" He asked, suddenly very serious about where their conversation was heading.

"I'm... I've made a friend, feelings have gotten involved and-"

"Eisa, what have I told you about this?"

"Don't let emotions become involved, they will shroud my path and make it difficult to see." John nodded as she spoke. "But what if he is the one from the-"

"He's not. He can't be. We are talking about the Robin dude, right?"

"Richard." She corrected him, in a way.

"Same difference, he can't be. It doesn't make sense for it to be him, it's too simple." John told her, earning a dark laugh from Eisa.

"Simple?" She questioned, taking a step towards him as her eyes flashed with something dangerous. "None of this has been simple, John, your parents took care of you, you chose to come here of your own will to make a life for yourself. Me? I was evicted because of one action, one devastating mistake that wasn't even my own. I hadn't even been alive for a month when I was forced away from my mother and shut down here, alone. I'm sick of being alone, John. You can't be around me all the time, we have to meet up like this so we keep each other safe. I need someone right now, I need friends, I want more than that with Richard."

"You kissed, didn't you?" Eisa didn't answer, but in a way that gave John the information he needed. "Eisa, if you ever want to see your mother again you-"

"I don't care! Not anymore. I'm done with trying to win my place back there, I want my own down here, I want a place within Richard's life, I want a place where I focus on what I want in the moment not what I need to do to have the slimmest chance of getting back to where I belong." She paused, thinking about what she had just said. That one word... belong. "I don't even belong there, John, why else would I be here?"

"Of course you belong there, Eisa, you can't let some foolish teenage romance get in the way of that." John tried to persuade her but it just made her angrier.

"You don't get to say what's foolish in my life, you didn't get to live through this, and Richard isn't a foolish teenage romance, it's more than that, I can feel it." She told him. "I should tell him, I need to tell him everything-"

"Do that and you screw up what you have down here too, or have you forgotten that?" He asked her, she turned almost white as he spoke.

"Oh, my gods..." She trailed off.

"If you don't want to earn your place back where you belong then fine, that's your choice, but you don't want to fuck up what you have here too. You will literally have nowhere then, my dad loves you more than any of the others but he can't house you or he'll start a war. We don't want that after he finally came to terms with everything." He had a point, one that she couldn't argue with.

"I don't know how much longer I can keep doing what I'm told for. This isn't... I can't keep doing this." Eisa stated, her emotions starting to get the better of her.

"Keep calm, you don't want to lose control, not now," John told her, but once again she just laughed.

"I'm sick of having to be in control, I want to unleash what I have, I'm over having to shove her down! I am the most powerful being on this planet, I deserve something better than being abandoned and being alone! I deserve the world to be at my mercy!" She shouted.

"That's not you talking, that's Eris' side of you," John stated.

"So what if it is? Does it matter? We are the same person after all-"

"No you're not, you need to keep control or you could create chaos over the entire planet, you could destroy Earth itself. You'd kill him, Richard, the other side of you wouldn't care about him." Eisa stopped moving, she almost forgot. "The only person that the other side of you-"

"Eve."

"That Eve despises, is you. Strife and discord, that's what she is the daughter of. She will not hesitate to ruin your life, she will take everything from you, your friends, the life you've built, and she will not leave Richard alive because of what he means to you. This is why I didn't want you getting into relationships, because they can be used against you, especially by her." He paused for a moment as Eisa contemplated the words. "You have to keep control, if not for yourself, for him."


	10. Seduction

“Eisa?” Richard asked as he walked into the Wayne Enterprises building, he wasn't expecting to see her there, and by the looks of things she wasn't expecting to see him either.

“Richard…” She trailed off, looking away from him. _Pyro was right,_ he thought to himself, _she did come to me._

“Um… about the other day-"

“I actually needed to talk to you about that, would we be able to go to yours?” She questioned.

“I guess, I came to talk to Bruce, but I suppose that can wait.” He replied, watching her carefully as she began walking towards the exit.

“What car did you bring?” She asked, looking back at him.

“The Audi, I usually bring that here.” He told her, watching as a smile came onto her face. The drive back to the manor was silent, which was strange, but Richard guessed that was because of his previous actions. You don't just get away with trying to kiss someone without consequence.

They got out of the car once in the garage, going inside as she walked behind him.

“Um, would you like a coffee?” Richard asked, knowing how much she loved the drink.

“No, um, would we be able to talk somewhere private? Where no one would be able to hear us?” She asked, he nodded, beginning to go to his room. She followed close behind, closing the door behind them once they entered the room.

“So, what did you want to talk about?” Richard asked as he sat down on his bed, watching as Eisa sat next to him.

“Um, well… you know…” She trailed off, so he decided to finish the sentence for her.

“When I went to kiss you but you pulled away from me and immediately ran off?” He asked, making sure that was what she wanted to talk about.

“Yeah that…” She trailed off, almost looking sorry for what she did.

“It's fine, you told me that you didn't want to be more, I won't push for it. I didn't even mean to do that I just… I thought you wanted it too, I was wrong, clearly.” Richard explained, looking to his hands.

“You may not have been completely wrong…” Eisa told him, the words grabbing his attention as he looked into her eyes and away from his hands.

“What?”

“You may not have been wrong.” She repeated, looking away from him. “I was scared, okay? I've never had that happen to me before and the first thing I did was retaliate, I hurt you instead of kissing you back like I should have.” Her eyes then trailed back to his.

“You mean…” He wasn't sure what that meant.

“Kiss me.” She told him, but he couldn't, something was telling him not to. Instinct, it was telling him not to kiss Eisa like he had wanted to for so long now. “Okay, well can I kiss you?” She asked.

“Are you okay?” He asked, not answering her question. She put a hand on his thigh, the other at the back of his neck.

“I'm fine, are you?” She questioned, the situation didn't seem completely right to Richard but as she placed her lips against his, those worries melted away.

It wasn't like he had imagined, she wasn't as warm as he had remembered her being the last time they were this close, but they were small details that didn't matter. He emptied his mind of all that negativity, just focusing on the contact that was shared between them. He had never felt about another girl the way he did with Eisa, he let that be known through his actions as he moved his hands to hold the back of her neck, pulling her closer to him and deepening the kiss. They then pulled away, catching their breath before Eisa once again moved in, the kiss was slow, showing devotion until she pulled away, moving herself to be sitting with one leg either side of his waist. Her hands cupped his jaw, lifting his chin up before kissing him again.

This time it was harder, a little more desperate than before, his hands moving around her torso to sit on her waist. With each departure from each other they returned with more desperation than before, Richard's hands beginning to shake as his blood began pumping faster through his body.

He was beginning to heat up, but before he could do anything about it he felt her hands leave his face and instead begin to undo the buttons to his dress shirt. Her nimble fingers worked quickly while the two continued kissing, Eisa soon beginning to push the shirt off of his shoulders as he moved his arms, making the removal of the shirt easier. His still shaking hands didn't know what to do, finding a place in her hair as they reconnected their lips.

“Eisa…” Richard managed to get her name out as she began kissing his neck.

“Mhmm?”

“You're okay with this, right?” He asked, wanting to make sure even though she was the one who started it.

“Of course, I am.” Eisa replied, kissing his lips again. “Why wouldn't I be?” She didn't give him time to respond as she pushed him backwards, making him lay on the bed as she hovered over him. She then began kissing him harder than before, making him forget the uneasy feeling in his stomach.

Something wasn't right, but he didn't particularly care. She sat up, taking off her own shirt before coming back to his level, her bare stomach touching his while they began kissing again.

She reangled herself, lying more to one side of him as her now free hand trailed down his chest and his abdominal muscles, beginning to rub over his already present hard on.

“If you want me, take control…” She whispered into his ear, he wouldn't need to be told twice. He rolled to lay over her, beginning to kiss along her neck and collarbone. He was about to start removing her skinny jeans when the door opened. Richard froze, looking to the doorway and becoming extremely confused.

“Alfred told me you were here, he didn't say you were with someone…” Bruce stated. “Sorry, I'll let you and whoever this is get back to whatever you were doing.” He stated, closing the door.

Richard then looked down to Eisa but found she looked different… she was slightly off. Her eyes were no longer the right shade of blue, and as she looked at him with a shocked expression he knew why the whole situation felt off, even Bruce wasn't enough of an asshole to pretend he didn't know someone no matter the situation. This wasn't Eisa.

“That's my cue to leave.” She stated, but Richard didn't move.

“Peitho, right?” Richard asked.

“Once again, I really must go-" She was cut off as he grabbed her wrists and held them above her head. “Well now, I know I like it rough but I thought you might like it at least genuine.” She stated, Richard reached to his bedside table, holding both her wrists in one wand and reaching into one of his drawers where he kept spare sleeper gas pills. He winked at her before throwing one to the ground and putting on one of the small masks the bat family uses to breath through gas.

“Sleep tight.” Richard stated as she tried thrashing around to break his grip on her, but she couldn't, instead falling unconscious.

Her appearance changed as he blinked, red hair replaced by black, her lightly freckled face was now the colour of porcelain, she was no longer Caucasian but Asian…

The real Peitho, and he needed to get her to the Tower as soon as possible.

***

Peitho was still unconscious four hours after the incident, Robin was glad as the others had been occupied, with Pyro only just entering the tower now. Peitho wasn't restrained, instead she was just lying on the couch, a Titan constantly present with her.

 _What happened?_ Pyro asked as soon as she entered the room, her eyes immediately landing on Peitho.

“She tried to seduce me, thankfully we were interrupted.” Robin replied but seeing that there was nobody else in the room he took off his mask.

 _You're lucky she failed, she can get control of you if you…_ She trailed off, seemingly not wanting to think about that.

“Right…” Robin trailed off, fiddling with his mask.

_Well, what do we do now? Wait for her to wake up?_

“That's the best option we've got, we can then try to get some information-"

 _She won't talk, at least not conventionally._ Pyro cut him off, finally descending the stairs to stand next to him and stare down at Peitho. _Torture won't work, but I could get into her head._

“Is that really the best idea?” Robin asked next, looking from Pyro to Peitho.

 _I can do it without harming her, I don't need to rip the information from her brain, I can coerce it to come out. I could do it while she's unconscious…_ Pyro trailed off, squatting next to the couch to touch Peitho’s temple. _Only if you allow it, of course. You are the one in control here, not me, I'm just assisting._ Robin sat still for a few seconds, unsure of what to do.

“You can do it without damaging her mind?” Robin checked, to which Pyro nodded in response. “Alright, how long will it take?”

 _I won't know for sure until I'm in there._ Pyro answered.

“Do you immerse fully into her mind or can you be both here and there?” That was an important question to him, he wanted to make sure he could regulate what was going on and ask the questions he needed the answers to.

_It's easier to immerse fully but if it makes you more comfortable I can be both in the physical and mental realms._

“If you could that would be appreciated.”

_Of course, is there anything else? Do you want to check with the others first?_

“No, you can start,” he answered, watching as Pyro’s focus then turned to Peitho, her hand resting on the forehead of the unconscious teenager before reaching her other hand to him.

 _I need to have an anchor to stay in the physical world, you just have to hold my hand until I'm done._ Pyro told him, so he nodded and grabbed her hand, instantly Pyro’s eyes filled with a fiery light, it was different to when she used her pyrokinetics, it was brighter, more of a glowing light.

 _I'm in._ Her voice echoed in his head.

“Okay, well we need to find out why they are doing this, we need to know of they are working for anyone or-"

 _I understand, Robin, I'll see if they are working for anyone, how many there are and why they are doing this._ She told him, closing her eyes fully as she focused om gently bringing memories to the surface of Peitho’s mind. At least that's what Robin imagined was happening.

They sat there for god knows how long before Pyro told him one thing.

 _There is only the two of them at the moment, they are working on gaining followers._ She stated, silence once again taking over the room as she dove further into Peitho’s mind. It felt like it had been another half an hour before the next piece of information came.

_They are working for someone._

“What? Who?”

_I am trying to figure that out._

Robin stayed silent, but his focus left Pyro as he heard the doors opening. He looked up to see Raven entering the main room, her eyes locked on his before they trailed to Pyro and her connection to Peitho.

“What the hell is going on here?” Raven asked, slowly getting closer.

“We're getting answers-" Raven didn't seem to like that response as she immediately jumped down towards Pyro.

“She's in Peitho’s head?” She asked.

“We almost know who they're working-" He was once again cut off as Raven built up enough matter to throw Pyro halfway across the room. Pyro stood up, immediately angered as was Robin. “What the hell Raven?! We almost found out who they're working for!” Robin shouted.

“She was tearing apart Peitho’s mind!”

 _No, I wasn't._ Pyro cut in.

“Don't you start, and why don't you speak out loud? What are you trying to hide?” Raven questioned, her complete attention now on Pyro.

 _I have my identity to hide, which is none of your concern. And before you say the only way to get information is to tear it from someone's mind is untrue, when she wakes up you'll see that she's completely fine._ Pyro stated, slowing her breathing down as of to keep herself from losing control. Over what, Robin didn't know. Before Raven could retaliate Robin interjected.

“Did you find out who?” He questioned, standing closer to Raven with a hand in front of her, subtly ordering her to stand down.

 _Yes,_ Pyro locked eyes with Raven, _yes I did._

“Alright then, who is it?" Raven asked, her voice laced with sarcasm. Pyro then became very serious as she spoke the one name they all hated to hear.

_Slade._


	11. Coffee and Opinions

Richard knew that Eisa had been avoiding him, it was obvious from the way she would see him at school before quickly looking away and heading the opposite direction.

He knew that Pyro told him that she would come to him when she was ready, but it had already been three weeks and he couldn't wait any longer. He had to go to her first, and if she wasn't responding on the phone it would have to be in person, but if she kept walking away from him it would have to be a surprise encounter where she couldn't leave.

That was what had lead to him sitting at a table on the cafe they had always gone to, his car parked a few blocks away so as not to warn her of his presence and hoping that she would come in today. He had been there for nearly two hours now, on his laptop to pass the time while getting refills for his coffee nearly every twenty minutes. His hands were starting to shake from the amount of caffeine in his system, but he imagined that some of it was coming from nerves.

He realised part of that was true as she finally walked in, his eyes locked on her as she walked to the counter without noticing him. It was as she stood waiting for her order that would have felt someone staring at her and turned around to look directly into Richard's eyes.

She took one step towards the door but froze as she heard his voice for the first time since the incident.

“Eisa.” It came out a little more desperately than he would have liked, but it made her stop, so he didn't mind. She turned to look at him again, her eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep, matching his own. “Can we talk, please?” Her entire body seemed to relax as he spoke, although it didn't seem to be because she was relaxed.

“Eisa!” The barista shouted, so Eisa walked to get her drink before taking the seat across from Richard. They sat in silence for a while, and unlike the other silences they had sat through together, this had a uncomfortable aura to it.

“You're the one who wanted to talk.” She stated, and hearing her voice lifted a weight off of his shoulders. He was going to make a comment about how she obviously wanted to as well since she was sitting there, but thought better of it, instead taking the time to study her features again. Her blue eyes, her red hair that always fell in her face no matter how well it was tied back, her freckles covering her pale skin.

He had forgotten what he had wanted to say to her, but he guessed that he never really knew in the first place.

“I should go-"

“Please, don't. That's not going to fix anything.” He told her, running a shaky hand through his hair. It wasn't well kept as it normally was, instead it was dishevelled and falling into his eyes.

“Well sitting here in silence won't either…” She trailed off. He wanted to apologise for everything, for kissing her, for almost doing a lot more than that with Peitho, he wanted to tell her he was Robin… but he couldn't. Although two of those things were pretty self explanatory as to why he couldn't tell her, the first one wouldn't be truthful. He wasn't sorry he had kissed her, not in the slightest, he was sorry that the action had offended her for whatever reasoning. So he guessed he would start with that.

“I'm sorry about what happened… I should have checked before, well, you know.” He told her, he was sorry for how he had done it, not what he had done.

“I'm sorry for making you think that's what I wanted.” She replied. “Okay, I didn't quite word that right.” She added, playing with the takeaway cup sitting in her hands. “Look, you did nothing wrong… I know I gave you signals, and I was fully aware of them, I wanted you to kiss me but I realised it wasn't a good idea when it was too late.”

“Why isn't it a good idea?” He asked, trying to understand what was in her head. “We both want this, so why can't we have it?”

“Because we are still keeping things, important things, from each other. Secrets that will come between us, that will ruin us if we become more than just friends. Until those are cleared up we can't be in a relationship like that. You know that.” She explained, and he knew she was right.

“Friends then?” Richard asked, waiting for her to look up from her occupied hands. She finally did, a sad smile on her face.

“Yeah, friends.” She agreed, they then sat in silence for a few more minutes, although it was still uncomfortable it was less so than before.

He hoped it wouldn't take long for them to tell each other their secrets, although he had no idea what hers would be, he knew it couldn't be bigger than his. He would have to tell her soon, within the next few weeks even, he just had to find the right time.

However difficult that may be.

***

Robin walked through the Tower, knowing exactly where he was going. He couldn't tell Eisa about him leading a double life until he knew how Peitho knew who he was. He had a feeling that it would be important.

“And what does the Boy Wonder want from me this time?” Peitho asked as soon as he entered the room she was confined to. “I'm still down for sex if you want, you aren't _unattractive_.”

“Um, thank you, I think, but no. I have some questions that you need to answer for me.” Robin stated, taking one of the seats in the room.

“What makes you think I'm going to tell you anything?” Peitho asked, moving closer to him, probably attempting to intimidate him but failing.

“Because if you don't, you won't be leaving here for a very long time.” He answered.

“You drive a hard bargain, I guess I could accept.” She replied, sitting down across from him and staring directly into his eyes.

“You knew who I was… you wouldn't have tried to get control over me if you didn't, how did you know?” Robin asked, awaiting the response he knew should be arriving anytime soon.

“Really? You have my full attention, a near guarantee that I'm going to answer and you ask how I knew that Richard Grayson was Robin?” She checked, rolling her eyes. “You remember the first time we met Richard dearest?” She asked him, standing up from her seat and walking towards him.

“It was at the mall…” He trailed off as she moved behind him, trailing her fingers over his neck.

“Well, to you, I had looked like Eisa, a very interesting pick by the way.” She whispered in his ear. “The second time we saw each other was at Wayne Industries, now I was there to see why so much activity happened there, but once you entered and spoke Eisa’s name again I knew.”

“How did you piece them together?”

“Darling, only one person in this world could be attracted to Eisa, it's what's fated for her, so I knew that you were Robin, since he was attracted to her as well. Because of that I realised that Richard Grayson was Robin and I put two and two together to figure out that Bruce Wayne is Batman, that explains the relationship between Batsy and the Boy Wonder right there.”  Peitho explained, standing up straight and speaking to full volume while rubbing his shoulders. He blocked it out, knowing that she would only mock him if he mentioned the contact between them.

“How do you know Eisa?” Peithi immediately stopped the massage to come back to the front of him. Her eyebrows were furrowed as she looked at him.

“You don't know yet, she hasn't told you.” Her words didn't help clear anything up for him.

“What hasn't she told me?” Peitho began laughing, it was a dark laugh which didn't live up to the smile present on her face.

“Eisa is a demi-god, she probably told you that she's an orphan… haven't you ever wondered why you haven't seen the orphanage?” She questioned.

“Well…” He didn't particularly care if he didn't see the orphanage she lives in, he completely understood why she wouldn't want him to see.

“That was terrible question to ask an orphan who would understand…” She trailed off. “Well she's not lying when she says she is an orphan, she was disowned by the gods, exiled from Olympus because she's broken. Never to worry, she can prove that she's worthy and get back soon enough.” Peitho began to wall around the room again like that was the end of the conversation.

“Hang on, before, you said she was fated to only have one pers-"

“The prophecy, she has a prophecy made by her mother. One person is fated to be with her, the sad part is that that person is predicted to die in her arms because of her.” As she said that Robin realised why Eisa would want to avoid a relationship with him, if what Peitho was saying is true… she wouldn't want to be the potential cause for his death. “It's tragic, isn't it? How does it feel knowing you could die in the near future?”

“I'm not going to die…” He trailed off.

“You still haven't figured out who Pyro is, have you?” She asked next, leaving Robin confused as to why she would change the subject so quickly. “You haven't talked to Batman about it either. Maybe you should do that, and soon.” He didn't want to seem like he was taking advice from a villain, but he knew she was right. He had been putting off talking to Bruce about the Pyro situation for too long now.

He immediately stood up, walking towards the door. He froze as she began speaking again.

“Let me know how it goes.”

***

“Alfred, is Bruce home?” Richard asked as soon as he walked through the door.

“Yes, he is in his study…” Alfred trailed off once he saw the anger present on Richard's face, he didn't need to say anymore because the boy wouldn't listen. Richard stormed towards the room Bruce was in, the pent up anger finally coming forwards from the place he had pushed it down to as he opened the door.

“Dick-"

“You're training Pyro.” Richard cut Bruce off.

“The League-"

“Sorry, ‘training’ isn't the right word so much as ‘controlling’.” Richard once again cut him off.

“We aren't controlling her, she came to the League for help after she gained her telepathy.” Bruce told him.

“Why didn't you tell me before? Why did it have to take her telling me that someone is controlling her every move for me to find out? Why, when she told me that, did I immediately know it was _you_?” The question came out a little more harsh than Richard had intended, but he didn't particularly care. Bruce didn't respond as Richard's anger continued to build up. “You were supposed tp help me figure out why she had disappeared, you know what she meant to me, and you acted as if you had no idea where she had gone or why. You lied to me, again.”

“Richard, you cared too much-"

“You care too little.” Richard said. “Tell me, do you know her real identity?”

“Yes.” He answered.

“Okay, if you tell me who she is then I'll forget any of this happened.” He bargained, but he knew it wouldn't work.

“That's something she needs to tell you herself.” Richard could barely believe what he was hearing.

“You mean once you give permission for her to tell me. I know how this works it's exactly what you've done with my life. You've taken control of it and I don't get a choice in anything anymore. Just like Pyro.”

“I don't control anyone.”

“Oh bullshit Bruce, you know that's bullshit. You are so invested everyone else's lives that you have a plan for taking down every member of the League in case they go rogue. You should share that with the other members and make sure they have one for you, after all, that's how a good team works. Knowing how to take down every other member is crucial to trust.” Richard stated sarcastically. “You know, I once hoped to be like you… I really did, but I've realised that I don't want to be anything close to who you are.”

Silence passed between them as they both processed what had been said, Richard hadn't meant to take it that far but it was too late now.

“By the way, you should know that the teenage demi-gods we're up against are currently on the sidelines, we have one in custody and the other won't go out by himself. You should also know that they were apprentices of Slade’s, and now that they have failed him he's going to be looking for a new one.” Richard told him before walking out of the study, a weight lifted from his shoulders but a tension added to his stomach. That wasn't how he wanted to conversation to go, he had wanted to keep calm but his emotions were too strong and too built up.

“Master Richard-" Alfred began as Richard walked down the hallway, the butler had probably heard every word that was shouted in that room but was too polite to mention it.

“I'm going for a drive, don't expect me to be back in time for dinner.”


	12. Confidant

Eisa played back the conversation in her head as she looked at herself in the mirror. How awkward Richard had been when asking her to accompany him to a fundraising gala being held at some fancy place she didn't know the name of, it didn't have to mean anything, he wanted her there to make things less awkward between him and Bruce. He had told her that the two had a major argument, but since the words had finally been spoken the tension between Bruce and Richard had eased slightly.

Eisa applied the red lipstick slowly, taking care with it's placement. She then rechecked her eyes, the nude coloured eyeshadow and the black winged eyeliner. Her hair was straightened, making her waist length hair even longer than normal.

She should never have agreed to go with him, he had been strange around her lately, seeming a little more on edge than normal. He always spoke carefully around her now, as of saying the wrong thing could trigger something.

A deep breath left her lungs as her hands ran down the short, skin tight dress once again. She should have worn something else, but it was too late now. The sheer stockings covered her legs so she felt less exposed, and the four inch heels she was wearing were already hurting her feet. She grabbed her long, dark grey coat before walking out of her bedroom and out of the mansion. Her feet carried her down the street before getting to the cafe that Richard and her always met at, tonight was no exception.

The familiar, rose gold Audi R8 pulled up to the curb, it's driver getting out to open the door for her. A silent thank you was passed from her to him before the car door closed and he got back into the driver's seat.

“You look amazing.” Richard said as he pulled out onto the road again, the fifteen minute drive to their destination only just beginning.

“You do too.” Eisa replied, taking in his striking blue eyes which were no longer surrounded by dark circles, whether that was makeup or not she wouldn't know, and his gelled back hair. He was wearing a suit, the jacket haphazardly thrown onto the back seat of the car. She had to keep herself from looking for too long, if she did she would have to admit that she was attracted to him, even though he already knew, she was still in denial.

“Are you sure you want to do this? People are going to assume we're together, that's what people do.” He stated.

“I know…” She trailed off.

“And paparazzi, they'll be watching like hawks.”

“Are you trying to talk me out of this?” Eisa asked, Richard shook his head.

“No, I want you there with me, I just want to make sure that you're okay with rumours most definitely being spread about us.”

“You're more nervous about this than I am. Are you okay?” She asked, not knowing the mess that was Richard's brain right now.

“Not really but we can talk about that later.” He stated, seeming worried.

“Okay, we can.” She agreed, knowing that they probably wouldn't.

“Good…” He trailed off. “Um, make sure you specify whether a drink is alcoholic or not, there have been a few times where I've been given champagne and I thought it was off coloured lemonade.” He changed the subject.

“Okay, will do.”

“Um, also steer clear of the food they carry around on trays, it's usually pretty shit except for the little desserts.” He added.

“Alright.”

“And if anyone hassles you at all and you want to leave early just let me know and we can go, alright?”

“Okay.” She answered, he was already getting on her nerves and they had been driving for a total of five minutes.

“You can leave your coat in the car-"

“I'll take it with me.” She cut him off.

“Okay, well nothing will get stolen out of it so if you want to leave your phone and your purse in it then it will be fine. Everything is free inside since it all comes out of the entry fee which Bruce has already paid for so you won't need money with you.” He added, Eisa just nodded as she looked out the window. “Oh, we'll probably be the youngest people there too so expect to have attention from the old people, especially the ones who are overly invested in my life.”

“Okay.”

“And Quentin Marques may try to dance with you, he generally goes for young girls, just try to seem preoccupied. For the entire night, just to be safe.”

“What the fuck?” Eisa whispered to herself as she then began playing with her painted black fingernails. The rest of the drive was filled with mostly silence on Eisa's part as Richard kept remembering little things that she didn't really care about.

They pulled up in front of the building, Richard handing the keys to a young man who took it to the safe parking out back. As they first entered the aisle sided with flashing cameras and shouting people they weren’t touching, it was only after Eisa began falling behind that she latched onto his hand, not wanting to lose him in the crowd of other billionaires who were all standing outside. Richard turned to look back at her as she did so, looking slightly confused before realising why she had made the strong contact. At the realisation she felt as he began to move faster through the bodies to get her inside.

Someone took her coat at the door, she was then scanned for weapons in the foyer area before they were allowed into the main ballroom. Every single person was obviously rich, from the quality of their clothes to the amount of jewellery they wore. That was the moment that Eisa began to feel uncomfortable, the dress she had bought was from a site online, and she couldn’t afford jewellery, at least out of her own pocket. All she had was a simple necklace left to her from her mother, but she didn’t want to wear that to a place like this.

“I forgot, I bought you something.” Richard stated as he saw how uncomfortable she was beginning to look.

“You mean Bruce paid for it-”

“No, this is from my own money, from what I earn for the minimal hours I work at Wayne Industries.” He corrected her, pulling a small box out of his pocket. He handed it to her, as she opened the jewellery box she found a silver necklace with a diamond pendant hanging from it.

“Richard, this thing is massive.” She stated as she touched the larger than average, tear-shape cut diamond. She then looked up to him. “I can’t wear this.” She added.

“Well, I’m not going to so I guess you kind of have to.” He responded, getting it out of the box and holding the delicate chain in his hands. “Move your hair…” He requested gently, so she did, picking it up and folding it so he could attach the chain around her neck.

“Richard…” She trailed off as he gently touched her skin, his body close behind hers and his breath fanning over her neck. “I can’t-”

“You can, you will, and you are.” He said, finally doing the clasp and letting the chain go. The weight of the diamond taking her by surprise. She had expected it to be heavy, but she barely felt it. She wasn’t sure if the piece of jewellery eased the feeling of inferiority or if it added to it.

“What do we do now?” She asked, looking to him for guidance.

“Um, we could dance… or get something to drink, or hunt down some food.” He offered up some options.

“Hydration is always good.” Eisa replied, following Richard to the bar. He ordered their drinks, before he became distracted.

“I’ll be back in a moment, don’t go anywhere.” He told her.

“Excuse me?” She questioned his words.

“Please, just stay here.” He seemed off, confused, worried. She watched him walk off, and she did as she was asked. She didn’t move, not even as an older man began talking to her, even as that conversation turned awkward, even as the man asked to dance with her with a hand already wrapped around her.

“I really have to pass.” She tried to be polite, keeping her anger down in an attempt to keep control.

“Come on sweetheart, it’s just one dance.” He said as he pulled her closer to him, at the controlling movement she lost her sweet demeanour, elbowing his stomach so hard that he was winded and backed off. It was at that moment that Richard decided to finally return.

“Eisa, let’s go.” He said as he took the empty glass from her hand and placed it on the nearest table, she surprised herself by not using it as a weapon. “I told you to stay away from Quentin Marques.”

“You also said to look preoccupied all night so he wouldn’t come up to me, I thought that was partially your job as well.” She snapped back.

“Sorry, I thought…” He trailed off, shaking his head. “Would you like to dance with me?” He asked, his eyes flicking back to the older man who was still hunched over in pain.

“Sure.” She answered, not sounding completely confident with the answer but following him to the center area where couples were slow-dancing with each other. Richard took one of Eisa’s hands as his other rested on her waist, trying not to pull her too close to him as her eyes continuously flickered at all of the faces around them.

“No one else is going to grab you, I promise.” He stated, she then focused on him, nodding slowly. “You still feel uncomfortable here, don’t you?”

“There are so many people…” Eisa trailed off, beginning to look around again.

“Okay, well just look at me.” Richard stated, she let out a deep breath before placing her spare hand on his shoulder and doing as he offered. “Don’t worry about them, they’re all just rich pricks anyway.”

“ _You’re_ one of those rich pricks.” She replied, seeming to have her sarcastic spark back.

“Never said I wasn’t.” The response came to him faster than he had thought it would, making her smile.

As the next song began playing Eisa began to relax, slowly moving closer to Richard, close enough for his hand to move from her waist to the small of her back, being very cautious of it’s placement. Eisa closed her eyes as they continued swaying in time with the music, seeming completely calm as she let the music take over her senses.

Eisa was no longer aware of the people surrounding them, instead she could only feel Richard touching her, only hear the music. Her mind wasn’t wandering to dangerous territory of what she was supposed to do, how she was supposed to feel or that she shouldn’t be enjoying the close proximity to the young man in front of her. She wasn’t think about earning her place back where she belongs, back in Olympus. She didn’t care anymore.

She opened her eyes to look into his, the world around them seeming void at that moment in time. There was a nagging in the back of her mind, about the prophecy, about the one person she will love being doomed to die in her arms… it wasn’t necessarily going to be him. That was what she kept telling herself, even though she knew it was wrong.

As the soft lights brought out the blue in Richard’s eyes she knew she couldn’t ignore it anymore.

“Richard…” She trailed off, not looking away from him.

“Eisa…” He responded.

“Do you hate me? I know I would.” She stated, Richard immediately began shaking his head.

“No, I could never hate you.” He replied, Eisa then looked towards her feet, wondering why she would do that to herself. She ruined the small moment they were having, and she was kicking herself for it. Richard then dropped her hand, instead touching her chin and guiding her to look up at him. “No matter what happens, what you tell me… I won’t hate you.” He told her, looking down to her lips as she did with him. Her heart was beating faster than normal, she was nervous.

“Eisa…” He trailed off, she didn’t reply, he knew that he had her full attention. He wasn’t sure whether to ask what was in his mind, considering the last time it didn’t go so well when he didn’t, but that trail of thought was cut off.

Eisa had kissed him first.

Her unoccupied hand was held against his cheek, her lips were warm against his own as they both froze from the contact. Eisa seemed surprised that she had even made the first move, Richard was equally so. All sound faded from his ears as his eyes closed, he only wanted to be aware of the intimacy that they were sharing.

As he pulled away he could feel his lips were tingling, leaving his forehead against hers he realised something.

This was the right time.

“I need to tell you something.” He was quiet, just loud enough for her to hear him over the music.

“What is it?” She asked after he paused for a little too long.

“I’m Robin…” He trailed off, her body seemed to go rigid under his touch as he spoke. She seemed to come to a decision too, maybe as important and as consequential as his was.

“I need to tell you something as well.” She stated slowly.

“What is it?” He asked with a smile, thinking he already knew where this was going. She was going to tell him that she was a demi-god, that was the only thing that made sense. But he didn’t know that wasn’t the only secret she held.

“I’m-” She was cut off by the power cutting off, the music and lights suddenly gone while people began panicking. The lights suddenly came back on, with Deathstroke now standing at the main podium.

“Slade.” Richard almost growled the name as his eyes landed on the man, going to walk towards him but being held back by Eisa’s hand on his wrist.

“I thought I should warn you all, that a Chronoton Detonator is set to stop time in the city. No amount of bribes will change that fact, but if you move fast enough, you might be able to make it out before it goes off. Happy running.” The lights suddenly turned off again, once they came back on Slade was gone.

“I have to go.” Richard told Eisa, looking her in the eyes. “Take the Audi, get out of the city, I’ll find you after this gets fixed.” Eisa hesitated before nodding, still wanting to tell him what she was cut off from saying before but being unable to as he ran off through the frantic crowd.

“Be careful.”


	13. Gained Trust

Robin entered the tower's surveillance room to find every Titan inside, including Pyro.

 _Took your fucking time_. Her voice immediately echoed in his mind.

“Apologies for not having the magical ability to fly here.” He responded sarcastically, his anger already boiling. “Do we have any good news?”

“Well, the detonator can be disabled… it'll take some time but it's possible, it would be easier with the controller but we obviously don't have that.” Cyborg stated.

“Do we have any way to locate it?” Robin asked next.

“No.” Raven replied, still seeming wary of Pyro but keeping calm around her now instead of lashing out immediately. Even though the threat of the demi-gods had passed Pyro had never really left, and the Titans weren't ready to let her go just yet.

“Fucking brilliant.” Richard responded, running a hand through his hair.

“The best we can do is run around hoping to stumble across it.” Beast Boy explained, which didn't really help the situation.

 _Cyborg, do you have anything that can scan for Chronotons?_ Pyro asked.

“I might be able mod something but it won't be able to do the whole city.” He answered.

“It doesn't need to do a whole city, Pyro could fly with it.” Raven responded, Pyro nodding in response. Cyborg set to work straight away, leaving the others to search the city while they waited for the device to work. They split into pairs, Raven with Beast Boy and Robin with Starfire, looking through every place they could think of.

“Progress report, Cyborg.” Robin requested after nearly twenty minutes.

 _“Pyro is just flying out now.”_ Was the answer given as a streak of fire could be seen flying out of the tower. It was another tenn minutes before Robin asked Pyro for a progress report, 5o which he was told that there was no sign of chronotons anywhere yet.

But suddenly Starfire sneezed.

And again.

“Are you okay?” Robin asked as she landed on the ground before sneezing again.

“Yes, I have an allergy to metallic chromium…” She trailed off. “I haven't had a reaction like this in a while.” She added, suddenly something clicked in Robin's head.

“Cyborg, would metallic chromium be in the detonator?” Robin asked over the comms, waiting a minute before receiving an answer.

 _“According to blueprints, yes.”_ Robin looked to Starfire.

“Starfire is allergic… everyone meet at my coordinates, we'll be using Starfire’s nose for this one.” Robin stated.

 _Does that include me?_ He heard Pyro’s voice echo in his mind.

“Yes, you too Pyro.” He answered, looking around for something that would have triggered the sneezing from Starfire. They were right above a sewer drain. “I guess we're going down then…” He trailed off as they waited for everyone to arrive. First was Raven and Beast Boy, then Pyro and then Cyborg.

“Where are we headed?” Cyborg asked.

“Down the drain.” Starfire answered, so they immediately went down. They followed wherever her sneezing was strongest, having to double back a few times before they seemed to find the correct tunnel.

 _I can feel the kinds of five people down this tunnel, they work for Slade._ Pyro told them all.

“Let's go then.” Robin stated before they all began running again, Robin falling behind before seeing something out the corner of his eye. It was Cinderblock, with a signature ‘S’ symbol on his forehead. He peeled away from the others without them knowing, finally feeling like he was able to get back at Slade.

He easily took Cinderblock down, finding a tracker on his unconscious body and using it to find Slade’s lair.

He entered slowly, looking around in case Slade was hidden in the shadows.

“I see you've found me, Robin.” Slade’s voice bounced off of the walls, making it impossible to locate him.

“I hope you're ready to fight, Slade, you ruined my night, now I'm going to do the same for you.” Robin stated a little too confidently, watching as Slade finally emerged from the shadows.

“Hmm, a little angry… you can't let emotions get in the way when you become my apprentice.” Slade stated.

“What makes you think I'm going to do that?”

“Haven't you wondered why you were the one to see Cinderblock? That none of the others even noticed he was there? Even the telepath?” Slade asked, and that was when it dawned on Robin. It was all an elaborate trap. “It's too late to save them now, they would be injected with the probes already, probes that are able to kill them with a flick of a switch.” The man added, holding up the switch mentioned. He lost focus for a moment as a screen lit up the room, showing footage of Pyro being shot with a dart, most likely holding the probes.

“It seems like she was the only one to get a dose… what a pity, I'm sure it will still work though. After all, your little Eisa has already ingested some from the gala tonight. Quentin Marques is easily persuaded when it comes to money and subtly injecting a girl with some drugs…” Robin’s world froze around him, when Quentin touched Eisa's back… he must have injected her with the probes.

“You're bluffing.” Robin tried to counter, but he knew he was lying to himself.

“Are you willing to risk that?” They both knew the answer to that question, which was why Ronin stayed silent, looking at the screen one more time to see Pyro’s unconscious form on the speedboat the fake detonator had been placed on.

*Pyro’s View from Leaving the Tower*

 _Is this scanner even going to work?_ Pyro asked, holding the machine in her hands.

 _“Progress report, Cyborg.”_ Robin's voice through the comms broke through their conversation.

“It's a fifty-fifty chance.” The half-robot answered her question before she left the room, faintly hearing Cyborg say that she was leaving with the machine.

She flew up the flights of stairs to the rooftop, taking off from their to fly in circles around the city. This machine had to work, it just _had_ to. It had been a full ten minutes before Robin asked for her progress, to which she explained she had found absolutely nothing. She was already beginning to have worries about this, she knew the quality of Cyborg’s machines. This one would work just as well as the others, but if it hadn't scanned anything that means there's no chronotons to find, which means this could all be an elaborate trap. For what end, she didn't know.

The next thing she knew was the machine was dumped on a building rooftop and she was in the sewers, surrounded by the few people she cared about the wellbeing of. She still knew something wasn't right but was sure when suddenly Robin had disappeared.

“Where is Robin?” Starfire asked, and everyone turned around to find he was gone.

“He was right behind us.” Cyborg stated, so Pyro did the first thing that came to mind, she began searching for him telepathically.

 _I cannot locate him…_ she trailed off.

“We'll find him later then, let's get to this detonator.” Raven stated, so the remaining five kept running towards the source of Starfire’s ever strengthening sneezes.

They suddenly stopped when a speedboat and five goons came into view, the detonator on the vessel. There was a quick fight between the goons and the Titans, but it was after that Pyro realised why everything felt off.

The detonator was fake.

“Okay, so to disarm it-"

 _Go._ Pyro cut off Cyborg, looking around cautiously.

“What?” Raven asked, still not fully trusting the demi-god.

 _Go, now, it's a trap._ Pyro expanded, but none of them moved. _Go!_ She made sure the command was loud enough in their minds that they couldn't ignore it, and they all began to flee while the bomb went over it's final countdown. She surrounded herself and the detonator with fire in case it was still explosive, which it turned out not to be.

Left by herself she dropped the sphere of fire, but suddenly felt something pinch her shoulder. Looking down she saw a dart poking out of her costume, immediately she pulled it out but she was shot with another one, a knockout drug.

The next thing she was fully aware of was waking up in the tower, in a room by herself. She sat up slowly, her brain throbbing as the last of the drug exited her system, and then walking out to the main room. She searched the tower with her mind, but didn't find the one she wanted to.

“Where's Robin?” she asked out loud, surprising the four present in the room who were all studying the screens.

“We don't know.” Raven replied, and that was when they all knew something had changed. If Pyro spoke out loud that means she trusts them, and with Raven replying softly it means that she had the trust of the Titans too.

They didn't know what had happened after they left Pyro by herself, but they knew she had been right. It was a trap, and they were thankful for her. She had finally proven that she was worthy to be a member of the Titans.

“Something's not right…” Pyro trailed off.

“No kidding.” Beast Boy replied as the demi-god finally looked at the screen. It was Robin, but different. He was wearing different clothes, he wasn't the same.

“Slade’s apprentice.” Pyro stated. “What does Slade have over him to make him do this?”

“We're trying to figure that one out.” Cyborg answered.

“How long was I out?” Was the next question to come from the redhead.

“Twenty-five hours.” Starfire answered, Pyro just began to nod slowly.

“Okay, so when are we facing him?” Pyro seemed to have walked in part way through a plan being made.

“Tonight, he'll come to us.” Cyborg replied.

“Am I a part of this?” Pyro questioned.

“You're one of us now, so yes, but only if the drugs have worn off by then.” Raven said.

“They will.”


	14. Identity

The Titans were chasing after the one person they never thought they would have to, Robin. He was hard to corner, especially since he already had hours of training with Slade, probably hadn't slept during the night and already had years of training from Batman.

Since being awake Pyro had only one thought, to get to Robin and make him see sense, to find out why he was doing this. It was proving more difficult than she had imagined it would be. They all stopped on a rooftop, Robin once again gone from their vision.

“This is getting ridiculous…” Raven trailed off.

“Where did he go?” Starfire asked, the other looking to Pyro as she landed on the roof.

 _He's close._ She answered, not letting the fire surrounding her body fall away. Her eyes were constantly looking around before she stopped moving entirely, facing one specific shadow.

“You should have run while you had the chance.” Robin stated, his voice dark as he walked out of the hiding place.

“We aren't going to run from you, you are our friend.” Starfire explained, Robin's eyes never leaving Pyro’s form.

 _Why are you doing this?_ She asked him, but he wouldn't reply, else Slade would know.

“Because I want to, you have one last chance to run.” Robin responded.

 _Something's wrong…_ Pyro trailed off, her stomach beginning to tighten at that thought.

 _“Take them down or Eisa and Pyro die.”_ Slade’s voice rang in Robin's ear.

 _Who's in danger?_ Pyro asked, but she didn't receive an answer as Robin shot a blast at Cyborg, knocking him back before aiming the next one at Beast Boy. With the two guys down the girls worked on the plan they had made earlier that day.

Pyro flew into the air, disappearing for a moment while Raven and Starfire went to attack Robin first. It kept him occupied for a few minutes, but when he finally knocked them out he had no location of Pyro. At least he didn't until she landed in front of him.

“Don't make me do this.” He almost pleaded, hesitating.

 _I'm not making you do anything._ She responded, taking one cautious step towards him. _And I'm not going anywhere until I know why you're doing this._

 _“Take her down.”_ Robin grunted at the instruction but he also knew the consequences if he were to defy it.

“Please, go…” He whispered, but Pyro ignored him. Dropping every last piece of flame on her body as she noticed his finger twitching, his weight change to better launch towards her.

 _Fair fight, no powers._ She said, keeping a careful eye on him.

“It will be your downfall.” Robin replied, trying to get back into character, but was given away by the slight crack of his voice at the end of the sentence. She swung first, her fist nearly colliding with his face. She then kicked his chest and was unable to retaliate.

Slade was shouting at him to fight back but he couldn’t, he let Pyro shove him to the ground, standing over him like a goddess. Just as he thought that she was about to take the blow to knock him out she closed her eyes, lifting her hands by her side while murmuring words under her breath. Her hands were then surrounded by black flames, and suddenly a flame of fire was around the two.

 _It’s safe to takl, no technological waves can get through this. Raven taught me how to intertwine magic with my fire, it’s why Slade can no longer see or hear you._ She explained, but he wasn’t sure why she had done it.

“Why?” He asked, still unsure whether he could trust her right now.

 _I need to know why you’re doing this, you can tell me in safety now. Slade won’t know._ She held out a hand to help him up.

“He would know that I told you, he’s not stupid. He would know why you’ve done this.” Robin stated as he stared at her hand.

 _Maybe, but he doesn’t know the other reason._ He took her hand then, allowing her to help him stand up, their bodies close as they didn’t let go of each other’s hand. _I need to tell you something…_ Robin couldn’t help the feeling of deja vu as she said those words.

“What is it?” She didn’t look well, her face had paled even though her cheeks were flushed due to their closeness, her breath and boy were shaking from nerves or anxiety, possibly both.

 _I shouldn’t tell you, I could lose everything if I do, but if Slade wins this and we don’t get you back, I might not get another chance to._ Her eyebrows furrowed as she began to panic about the situation.

“Tell me what?” She ran a hand through her hair as she pulled away from him. “Pyro, what do you want to tell me?” He knew, he just knew that it was her real identity, but she seemed to be in too much turmoil to be just a simple reveal. He didn’t know why. She suddenly reached up to her own face, taking off the mask, she looked the same as the last time she had done so… until he blinked.

It was like a spell losing it’s power, and her appearance changed to an all familiarr face.

“Richard…” Hearing her voice out loud changed everything, it was different to what he had heard in his head, but he knew that would be different know. He knew why she hadn’t spoken out loud since returning, because it would have given her away to him. Her eyes were no longer the colour of dancing flame, instead they were as blue as the ocean, her face had changed from the younger looking features to the ones he had started to fall for. It was her… it was Eisa standing in front of him in a black catsuit, a black mask in one hand and a ball of fire int he other.

“Eisa…” He trailed off, she nodded in response, her body relaxing at the reveal, like a weight was lifted off her shoulders. His mind was racing to piece it all together, to make sense of it all, but most of all he was trying to figure out why he hadn’t already figured this out.

“This is why you didn’t want us to be more than friends, this was your secret.” He stated, and again she nodded.

“I couldn’t keep that from you if we were together like that, but-”

“Batman. It’s okay, I understand.” He cut her off, taking a few steps backwards.

“I wanted to tell you at the gala, but Slade…” She trailed off. “I should have told you a long time ago, I’ve known who you were before we even met.” She added.

“Not true, we met a few years ago. You’ve probably only know for a few months now.” He corrected her, earning a smile from the teenaged girl.

“Now can you tell me what’s going on? This is going to get suspicious if we are under here for much longer.” She told him, and he knew she was right.

“I can’t… but I have a feeling you’ll find out once the fire is gone.” He answered, afraid of what Slade would do with the probes.

“Something happened, I was injected with something, wasn’t I?” She asked, he didn’t answer, but that was all she needed. “Okay, well let’s pretend you are actually following his orders. When I drop the fire kick me in the chest, if the others are awake we’ll flee, if they are unconscious just knock me out, okay?” She made the plan.

“I don’t want to knock you out…” Robin trailed off.

“Then let’s hope the others are awake.” Pyro replied, her mask back on she nodded at him. “On 3. 1… 2… 3.” The fire was suddenly gone, and Robin’s foot was regrettably connecting with Eisa’s chest, throwing her backwards. Cyborg and Starfire were awake, so they would be able to run and carry the other two.

“He won’t listen! We have to go!” She shouted, Cyborg and Starfire took the signal, Cyborg grabbing Raven and Starfire getting Beast Boy. _See you on the other side._ Her voice echoed in Robin’s mind before she surrounded him with fire, the flames gone as quickly as they had come while the Titans had disappeared.

“What happened?” Slade asked once Robin returned.

“Pyro tried to get me to talk, I didn’t.” Was the response that Robin gave, his anger rising at what he had just been forced to do.

“Good, having those kinds of connections create weakness. You already have one, you don’t want to have others too. Ridding yourself of your past friendships will be the safest thing you can do for yourself.” Slade stated, sounding a little too much like Batman.

“Like I haven’t been told that before.”

***

“Cyborg, you need to scan my blood, or something like that.” Pyro stated once they returned to the tower, Beast Boy and Raven had woken up during their travel back.

“What for?” He asked, seeming confused.

“There is something that could potentially kill me in my bloodstream, Robin didn’t tell me that but he didn’t say it wasn’t when I asked.” She answered.

“Okay, stand in the machine over there.” Cyborg pointed to a full body scanner which she immediately stood in. Her hands were shaking, she didn’t want to be the reason that Robin had to do this, but she already knew she was. It was about two minutes before a visual of her body came onto a screen, showing something moving around her body. Cyborg requested she place her hand on a contraption in the machine, and so she did, a cuff-like object clasping around her wrist to get a view of the veins present there.

“Probes…” Cyborg trailed off as the screen showed metallic flecks inside of her blood.

“Can you get them out?” She asked, and he shook his head.

“Not without the correct equipment, even if I made something it probably wouldn’t work.” Cyborg answered.

“What could go wrong?” She asked next.

“Well, I could trigger whatever they're made to do, which is probably kill you in a horrific, painful way.” She nodded at the response.

“Well we don't want that…” She trailed off, not knowing what to do. “So Slade has my life in his hands… that's why Robin's working for him.” She stated, her mind flashing back to the Gala when Quentin had touched her, the slight prick she thought she had imagined, the burning sensation in her bloodstream that she thought was because of his touch. “Slade knows who Robin really is, he injected me twice without knowing, me in my normal life and me as Pyro.”

“But he doesn't know who you are…” Beast Boy stated.

“I'm not sure if that means we've got the upper hand or not.” Starfire added.

“I think I have an idea…” Raven trailed off, teleporting from the room before returning with a spell book in her hand. She was quickly flicking through the pages before landing on one.

“We can use the normal you as bait.”


	15. Blue Fire

Eisa sat in the cafe where she always met Richard, a takeaway coffee cup in hand as she waited for him. He had left her a message saying that he couldn't see her anymore, but after enough arguing (and subtle exchanges of plans) he agreed to meet her.  
She was worried to say the least, there were a lot of things that could go wrong with this plan. Raven’s spell may not work, Slade may actually get the upper hand and kill her, or he may end up killing Richard. This whole thing had to work, else they would lose Richard forever, or until Eisa died. She looked up from her hands only when the young man who had taken up her thoughts sat across the table from her.  
“Richard…” She breathed, reaching across the table to touch his hand but he pulled away. “Bruce is worried sick.” She stated, letting him know that his adoptive father knew what was going on.  
“Yeah, sure he is.” Richard replied, hopefully out of the character he was playing but she couldn't tell.  
“You haven't been home in days, what about poor Alfred?” She asked, and he shook his head, about to stand up and leave.  
“You can't convince me to go back-"  
“That's not what I'm trying to do, I swear.” She told him, looking outside and seeing a flash of a green bird flying past the window. That was her signal. “Let's go for a walk.” She offered, he flinched but didn't seem like he was going to move. “Please, just one last time.” She pleaded, acting as if she thought this was the last time he would speak to her.  
“I-"  
“Please.” She cut him off.  
“Eis-"  
“Please, just trust me.”  
“Fine.” He almost snapped, standing up and walking to the door. He waited as she took her time to stand, then leading him around some corners before landing him in an alleyway where Raven was waiting, opening a teleportation hole in space beneath both Richard and Eisa. When they landed on solid ground they were in the Tower, in Robin's room no less.  
“What's going on?” He asked immediately, although she had told him some information, it was impossible to let him know everything without Slade knowing as well.  
“Trust me, the Tower is safe for me.” She told him.  
“How? He's going to use-"  
“A device to activate the probes in my body, I'm guessing that's what he tried to do when I had you in that sphere of fire. That spell, kept out the waves from the trigger and kept me safe. Raven used that spell and wove it into the Tower's walls, each wall is a new blockade, so the only way he can get to me is if he is in the same room as I am when he activates the probes.” She explained.  
“But he'll know who you are…”  
“He was going to find out eventually.” She pointed out the obvious.  
“So the Titans know who I am now?” He asked next, she nodded in response. “Bruce is gonna-"  
“He approved, I said it would probably be the only way to save you.” She cut him of, running a hand through her hair.  
“Right… so now we wait for Slade to come here. Is that the plan?”  
“Kind of, we're hoping that he'll be a little more irrational than normal at your sudden disappearance, the realisation of who I am and that the trigger isn't working. Raven, Starfire and I are waiting here for him to arrive, Cyborg and Beast Boy are going to his lair and hopefully finding the device that can remove the probes from my system.” She explained.  
“Okay, you'll probably need my help against him.”  
“I don't want you anywhere near him, Richard. He will kill you if he can't use me to control you. You're staying here, locked up so he can't get to you and you can't get to him. You'll let your anger get in the way-"  
“I won't, I have been taking in the training he's been giving me. Anyway, what makes you think I'll let you face him if you won't let me? He will kill you just because he can. He knows that he can't make Pyro his apprentice, he knows that you are too strong willed.” He told her. “He knows that the only weakness you have is yourself, but even he couldn't manipulate you into turning to his side.”  
“I have more weaknesses than myself… well, one specifically.” She told him. “If he threatened you, I wouldn't hesitate to work with him. I understand why you willingly went to work for him, because if the roles were reversed I would have done the exact same thing.”  
“No, you don't-"  
“Don't what? Care about you the same way you do me?!” Her anger was beginning to show through in her eyes as they filled with fire. “I didn't just kiss you at the gala for fun, I didn't do it because I was caught up in the moment. You probably think I did it to instigate you telling me you were Robin but I didn't.” She stated, watching as he moved closer to her. “What are you doing?”  
“I need to figure something out…” He trailed off, continuing to get closer to her until she began walking backwards. He was intimidating her, or maybe she wasn't afraid of him… maybe she was afraid of herself. Suddenly she was backed against a wall, unable to go anywhere and unable to do anything as she felt fire sparking at her fingertips. She closed her eyes, trying to shove down what was trying to surface, caught in an internal battle. This fire was different, it wasn't the warm orange based flame that Eisa used, this one was a dangerous blue, hotter than normal and even making Eisa uncomfortably warm, not that Richard seemed to notice. Either that or he didn't know what was happening and assumed it was Eisa.  
His hand touched her cheek as a feeling of anxiety landed in her stomach, her breath was shaking but not because of the close proximity between the two people in the room, but instead of the two people within her own mind. She squeezed her eyes shut, opening them only when Richard asked if she was okay.  
Her eyes were glowing with bright blue flames in her irises. In that moment Richard remembered something, Eisa, as Pyro, saying that her being out as a hero wasn't dangerous for her but for them. She wasn't fully in control, and in that moment he realised that blue meant danger. She was beginning to panic, breath not making it to her lungs as she shouted for him to get back, to run…  
But he didn't.  
Instead he held her face within his hands, rubbing her cheeks slowly with his thumbs.  
“Everything’s going to be fine.” He stated, she just shook her head.  
“You don’t understand-”  
“I think I might…” He cut her off, watching as the panic continued to show in her eyes and the blue flame began creeping it’s way up her arms. He wasn’t sure what else to do in the moment to calm her down, to keep her in control of herself. Well, he had one idea.  
He kissed her slowly, eyes closed as her body began to relax under his touch. He could feel the heat lessening, and as he pulled away he saw that the blue flames had turned back to their orange-yellow hue. She was no longer panicking, her breathing slow and controlled. She seemed to have whatever it was under wraps, for now at least.  
“Are we going to talk about that?” He asked gently, holding her hands after the flames had completely dissipated.  
“It has to do with my mother, and why I got thrown out of Olympus…” She trailed off.  
“So not for a while?” He checked, she nodded in response.  
“I still don’t want you out there, you’ll get hurt.” She told him.  
“Well, you’ll get hurt if you go, so if you’re going I’m going. Simple as that.” She gave him a pleading look before seeming to agree to let him out of the room.  
“If you aren’t careful, if you risk yourself for me, I will kill you with my bare hands.” She told him, opening the door and looking down the hallway.  
He’s just arrived. Starfire’s voice echoed through their minds.  
“They trust you?” Richard questioned, earning a nod in response. “Even Raven?”  
“Yeah, even Raven. We still have our differences though, but I’m sure we’ll work it out.” She answered. The floor shook beneath them as the sound of an explosion hit their ears.  
Let me guess, he’s just entered the building? Eisa asked, her hands glowing with balls of flame. She wasn’t given a response, she didn’t really need one. They walked slowly to the main room, moving around every corner cautiously.  
“Starfire is engaged…” Eisa stated, the flames creeping up the length of her arms, sparks occasionally coming from her hair. “Starfire is down.” The two entered the main room. “Raven is down… and Slade is just down the hallway.” Eisa stated, looking towards a specific door. “No going back now, Boy Blunder.” She joked, looking at him for a split second before using her fire to fly and hang above the doorway, Richard quickly scanned the room to find higher ground but damned the flat walls his eyes landed on. He looked directly up, seeing the few rafters that he had demanded for when the tower was under construction.  
Using a run up and a leap off of a bench, he barely made it to the rafter, but the hiding place didn't seem to last long as Slade used explosives to get through the door, and the first place his eyes landed was on Richard who was still in his civilian clothes.  
“Boy, did you really think-” He was cut off as Eisa dropped directly on top of him, burning Slade’s skin as she got a hold of the device that would be used to kill her if left in the wrong hands. In the commotion she threw it to Richard, the young man barely catching it before landing on the ground and hiding it.  
“Young girl, if you think you can beat me, you’d be sadly mistaken.” Slade stated as Eisa flipped away from him, standing and looking him directly in the eyes.  
“I think you’re afraid of me, Slade. Why else would have a device that could kill me just by flicking a switch?” She asked, the fire at her fingertips slowly growing whiter with anger.  
“Insolent child-"  
“Insolent?!” She shouted, ignoring as the fire slowly grew hotter. “I have the wisdom of Athena, the intellect and strength of Apollo, do you really think I could be insolent?” That statement seemed to shut Slade up momentarily. “The probes weren't to keep Robin in check, they were to stop me from killing you. Well, I guess it isn't me you're necessarily afraid of… the others would have told you about Eve. You're afraid of her, and for good reason.”  
Run, now. Get the others and run as far away as you can. Eisa’s voice echoed in his mind, but he was frozen to the spot as her body suddenly became encased in white-blue flames.  
“You know who I am the daughter of, right Slade?” Eisa asked, but it wasn't her voice… it was an echo of her tone, a more malicious tenor. Slade didn't respond to her, instead he stood still, calculating how he could win against her… “You would also know that I'm very protective over what's mine, like Robin. You'll be lucky to make it out alive after what you did to him.”  
She suddenly threw her hands back, gathering a force of white fire behind her before throwing it at Slade, the metal of his armour melting as she began to fight him hand to hand.  
“I have gifts from all of the gods, when they got rid of me, they hoped they could take them back.” She stated, pausing the fight as Slade tried to ignore the pain from the molten metal covering his body. “I wouldn't let them.” She growled, using fire to propel herself in the air before landing all of her weight behind a punch to Slade’s cheek, knocking him out cold.  
She stood up straight, Richard looking down the hallway at Raven and Starfire while signalling for them to stay put. They ignored him, thinking that they were needed to help fight Slade and entered the room. Immediately Eisa turned to face them, her body slowly rising higher.  
“You two, you are friends of Eisa’s, correct?” She asked, and that was when Richard knew for sure that she wasn't the same person.  
“Friends would probably be a stretch.” Raven stated, seeming to have an idea of what was going on. Richard slowly crept closer towards the other two, watching the person, possibly Eve who Eisa had mentioned before, closely.  
“Hmm, I don't think that matters… she cares about your wellbeing, which means if I hurt you, I hurt her.”  
“I’m not entirely sure how that would-"  
“I don't think so.” She cut him off before pulling her arms back like she did before. At the movement Richard ran in front of Raven and Starfire, holding a hand out towards this alter-ego of Eisa’s.  
“Stop!” He shouted, “Please, don't do this.” He pleaded. She tilted her head, as if about to say something, but instead the flames suddenly went out and she dropped nearly fifteen feet onto the solid floor. Richard ran up to her, dropping next to her and immediately checking her vitals, they all seemed normal.  
“She was going to kill us!” Raven shouted, almost beyond disbelief as she tried to get Richard's focus to be on his team.  
“It wasn't her…” He trailed off.  
“What do you mean it wasn't her?” Starfire asked.  
“She spoke about Eisa like they were seperate people, seperate entities.” For once Raven didn't immediately shut down his statement.  
“That is true, and only morons speak in third person.” She agreed with him.   
“Did you just agree with me?” Richard asked, to which he didn't receive an answer.  
“We need to get her strapped down just in case she isn't herself when she wakes up, someone needs to be with her at all times and everything will need to be fireproofed.” Raven stated.  
“I'll go see if the others are okay.” Starfire stated, flying from the room.  
“I'll see if there are any spells that can fireproof everything… hang on.” Raven looked around the room. “Where the hell did Slade go?” Richard began to look around, the only evidence that Slade was even present were the patches of molten metal on the floor which were slowly beginning to cool. Richard ignored the fact he was gone, too focused on the metal left behind.  
“The metal that made Slade’s armour… it had a melting point of one thousand and three hundred degrees celsius, that's hotter than lava, and she melted it within three seconds of contact.” Richard explained, a look of worry on his face. “Fireproofing probably won't do anything against that.”  
“Probably not, no.” She agreed, running a hand through her hair. “We'll get her to the medical wing, she may have a concussion after that fall, but we'll work this whole thing out after she wakes up and we know what's going on.”  
Richard couldn't agree more.


	16. Spooning and Sirens

 

She woke slowly, her eyes burning from the light in the room before she wondered how she had even gained control back. Eisa looked to her right, seeing Richard sitting there, reading a book. As she moved Richard's focus immediately changed from the page to her, he tried to stop himself from saying the typical 'you're awake', it probably wouldn't go down well with her.

"How... how did you stop Eve? How are you alive? Where's Slade?" She asked too many questions as she slowly sat up, ignoring the searing pain from her head.

"Well, as soon as Eve laid eyes on me it was like she shut down, her, or your, body just fell out of the air without any control. That's why I'm alive... and Slade got away." He told her, getting out of his chair and sitting next to her on the bed. He also didn't bother saying that she should lay back down, he knew she wouldn't listen to him.

"He would be hurt fairly badly, wouldn't he?" Eisa asked next.

"Eve hit him with a wave of fire which melted his armour stuff that he wears, and then proceeded to knock him out before going to attack Raven and Starfire. That was when I came in." He replied, Eisa dropping her head into her hands.

"I could have killed everyone, and now seeing you isn't going to work again..." She trailed off. "Eve learns, she grows in power, and seeing you next time won't be enough to stop her. That's why I told you to run, so we could use that later when we needed to."

"But why was that enough?"

"I care about you, a lot more than I thought..." She answered.

"But Eve... she said she's protective over what's hers, like me, why would she hurt me if she's protective of me?" Eisa sighed at the statement, dropping her head into her hands.

"Because, she... she wants to hurt you, very badly, but only when the time is right. She doesn't want anyone else to harm you because she wants to be the only one." Eisa stated.

"Right, that sounds fun." Richard replied sarcastically. The two sat in silence for a while, as he processed the information.

"Did you remove the probes while I was out?" She asked, changing the subject.

"We were going to but... we think Eve burnt them so badly they disintegrated." Richard replied. "We checked your blood but there weren't any present." He added.

"Right." Eisa replied, holding her head in pain. "This is going to sound extremely childish, but, are... are _we_ okay?" She asked next, blinking a few more times as the pain slowly started to ebb away.

"Aside from you probably not wanting to tell me about why Eve even exists, yeah, we're fine. I think." He replied, taking a hold of her hands.

"So the whole me being Pyro and Pyro being Eisa thing is okay? Because I would definitely understand-"

"I've had a while to process it, I can't really blame you for not telling me because I understand. I've been fighting alongside the Titans for years now and they only found out who I was because they _had_ to." Richard told her, a sad smile on his face.

"But they aren't in a predicament like we are..."

"No, but I did have a thing with Starfire for a while... it was barely a thing but it was there. She didn't know who I was, I couldn't tell her. I was scared that after she'd find out who I was she wouldn't want to be with the over-pitied orphan boy, and the few relationships I've had as myself I didn't want to tell them I was Robin because they might end up only wanting to be with me because of that. You know both sides of me and it doesn't change anything, you knew me as Robin for years and you have now learnt who I am normally... nothing will change because it has always been the same between us. The only thing that's now changed for me is the amount of time we've known each other, and that's fine by me." He told her, she nodded slowly. "The only thing I'm confused about is why you gave me dating advice to help me with getting you back."

"Well you were completely useless so I gave you that push from a disassociated perspective even though it was completely associative." She told him, the both of them smiling properly. Her's then suddenly dropped as she thought of something. "How long was I out for?" Richard grimaced before answering..

"Two and a half days, roughly." He answered, she nodded slowly.

"Not as bad as I thought it would be." She replied, then realising she was still connected to an IV drip. She pulled the needle out, dropping it onto the bed, "how long have you been in here with me?"

"Two and a half days, roughly." He replied with the exact same answer as before.

"Are you serious?" She asked, almost angry. "Why would you do that to yourself? Did you at least get some sleep?" She asked him, but judging from the dark circles under his eyes she already knew that he only got a minimal amount of sleep, of any.

"Well now that you mention it-"

"Get on the bed." She told him.

"No, I'm not kicking you out-"

"Then get on here with me." She didn't really think about the situation that sentence would entail, and it left them on the king single mattress facing opposite directions.

"Look, if we're going to do this can I at least... you know, cuddle you? To save some room?" Richard asked after a few minutes of discomfort.

"As long as that is the only reason why." Eisa replied, feeling the hospital-like bed shift under her as Richard rolled to spoon her. With one arm over her waist and the other under her neck, she hated that he had just done so without checking the specifics of what she wanted.

But she loved the warmth from his body, the feeling of safety and comfort from having his arms around her. It was nice to not feel alone, for once in her life. And as she closed her eyes, a heaviness falling over her body, she knew she didn't hate this at all.

***

When she woke this time it wasn't as peaceful, there were sirens blaring and she didn't know why. She sat up, realising that Richard was doing the same.

"That sounds worrying..." Eisa stated.

"We should probably go and see what's wrong." Richard said, but Eisa was already at the door, getting it open but allowing a flood of water into the room. Eisa immediately had the door shut again, but the amount of water that had entered the room already put it at knee depth. "How are you with water?"

"Well, how good is fire with water?" Eisa asked, her head cocked to the side.

"I'll take that as not very good." Richard replied.

"No, I can't swim, but my powers still work, even underwater, they just aren't as strong and once the fire leaves my body it doesn't last very long, obviously." She explained, her fingers twitching as she tried to figure a different way of of the room. There were no windows in the room, but Richard walked towards one of the walls anyway.

"This wall is the outside of the building, this is one of Cyborg's rooms, he prefers to not have windows." Richard stated, Eisa walked towards the wall, touching it.

"You want me to melt through it?" She checked, hearing only a slight noise of approval from Richard she flicked her hands out, gathering fire in her palms and channeling it into the wall. It eventually got hot enough to melt the metal wall, opening the room up to the outside world. "Now what?"

"I guess you're going to have to carry me..." Richard stated, he wasn't in his Robin costume, and therefore didn't have a grappling hook with him.

"I thought you hated that." She stated with a smirk on her face.

"Only because I hate feeling useless." Richard told her.

"You're not useless..." She trailed off, then facing him. "Now, arms up Boy Blunder."

"And you know I hate that line." He told her, she laughed but wrapped her arms around his torso after moving behind him. She covered them both in fire and flew them out of the room to inspect the tower before finding a good way to enter and see what was going on, even though she had a pretty good idea. Once they were out they could see that the body of water surrounding the tower was moving up the rocks and into the tower.

"Phorcys..." Eisa stated with a sense of hatred, looking to the one floor that wasn't filled with water. "What floor was Peitho being held on?" Eisa asked.

"The one that isn't flooded." Richard replied, so Eisa began flying directly to that level. She sent a ball of fire towards the window, the heat cracking the glass before it shattered and the two flew in with ease. Eisa put Richard down carefully, keeping her body covered in flames before she reached out with her mind, the others were struggling against the water on different levels, but she could help them separately. She would have to get rid of Phorcys. That mentioned teen and Peitho were just around the corner of the hallway, so she began running in that direction, leaving burnt footprints on the ground behind her. Once the two came into view she threw a fireball towards them.

"Phorcys!" She shouted, anger clear in her tone as the boy turned to face her. She tried to hold in the force that was begging to be released within her, but it was made even more difficult when Phorcys opened his mouth to speak.

"Oh, cousin, you have broken your silence at last." He stated, Peitho next to him with a smirk on her face.

"Only because little Richard knows..." Peitho trailed off.

"Oh, but I can bet that he doesn't know everything." Phorcys added.

"No, I don't, but I'm okay with that." Richard cut into the conversation, pulling one of the few things he always has on him out and throwing the birdarang straight at Phorcys' face. Phorcys used a strain of water to stop the weapon like a shield, the throwing device suspended within the stream. Eisa noticed the clear twitch of pain on the teen's face, he was nearing the extent of his abilities. She dropped the fire encasing her body and looked him directly in the eyes.

"This is going to be a bit easier than I thought." She stated, walking towards them and seeing a bead of sweat running down Phorcys' forehead. "Little cousin, remember why I always won when we trained together?" She asked, a ball of fire in her hand that she then held in front of her, staring at the flames. "Because I know restraint, I know where my limits are, but I also don't really have limits like you do. Limits that you are edging closer to..." She trailed off.

"I don't know-"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, Phorcys. You're not the strongest demigod, you're nowhere near it. We all know that title goes to me, but you, you might be manipulative, but you can't handle much more control over all the water in this place. I'm not going to attack you right now because you might actually collapse, so I'm going to give you about thirty seconds, thirty seconds to leave, we've got all we wanted from Peitho, so get the hell out of here before I have to throw you out." That seemed to be enough of a warning, Phorcys and Peitho fleeing from the building and the water that had filled the tower flowing back to where it was supposed to be.

Eisa let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding, she wasn't sure if that was going to work and was pleasantly surprised when it did. She tilted her head to the side and turned back to Richard.

"That worked." He stated, she nodded in response.

"It did." She replied, reaching out with her mind to check on the others. "The others are okay." She stated, then thinking to the next few days. She may have to move out of the mansion she lived in with others like her, she already knew Phorcys and Peitho's influence was spreading to the home. Where there once had been safety in numbers there may soon be danger. Her stomach tightened suddenly, she wasn't entirely sure but she was guessing that the feeling was anxiety.

"What is it?" Richard asked, obviously seeing her expression change.

"Nothing." She stated, suddenly worrying about his well being. Phorcys and Peitho wouldn't hesitate to do something to him to hurt her, they would do something far worse than putting probes into his system. But would they want to face Eve then? She didn't want to risk that.

"Eisa, what's going on?" He asked, not believing her statement.

"Nothing." She said with quite a believable resolve, her exterior seeming solid but her mind was racing. Would she have to distance herself from him? Just after she decided to ignore the prophecy and try to be with him? Would she have to get away from Gotham in general to make sure she was safe?

What would she have to do to keep Richard safe?

 


	17. Cold Hearted

Eisa awoke to the sound of banging on her door, she sat up slowly, her mind immediately reaching out towards whoever it was at her bedroom door. She immediately felt hatred, and felt more than one mind which all had on thought in common.

Turn her to their side or do whatever was needed to take her down.

“Eisa, open up! We know you’re awake!”

She couldn’t pinpoint whose voice that was, nor did she particularly care. Instead her breath was shaking, adrenaline pumping through her veins as she realised that her plan to run would have to be put into action now. She stayed silent as she moved around the room, gathering what she needed to survive by herself for as long as needed, money, jewellery to sell off, clothes, her school books and uniform all inside the medium sized suitcase she owned. She then threw it out of the window before changing into her Pyro uniform and a pair of combat boots.

It had been two weeks since Peitho had been freed from the tower, over those fourteen days she had felt as the tendrils of Peitho and Phorcys’ influence had entered the mansion. Today was the day that their power had overtaken the peace they were supposed to stand for, and it was time for her to get out.

As the bashing on the door turned into actual attempts to break it down she took one last look around the room that had been her home for the past year and a half, taking a deep breath before sparking fire on her hand not controlling the shape but allowing it to encase her hand. The first thing in the room she caught alight was the bookshelf, the books she was unable to take with her soon engulfed in flames before she moved onto the desk. Each wall was then entrailed with fire, then the bed was burning as she jumped out of the window to fall to the ground a storey below.

All of her cousins were upstairs so she was able to use a wave of fire to catch most of the bottom floor alight, one of the first decisions she made when making her escape plan was that if she couldn’t live there in safety, they shouldn’t be able to either. She put her mask on, lighting the garden as she held the fireproof suitcase in one hand. She didn’t look over her shoulder as she felt the minds of every other person who had been living with her, their main emotions now panic instead of anger.

She covered her body in fire, taking to the sky to one of the only other safe places she knew. The tower. As she entered the building a three in the morning she was greeted by Cyborg, likely awake because of her entry.

“What’s going...” he trailed off as he looked down at the suitcase next to her, she pulled the mask off and looked him in the eyes, not hiding the tears that were building in her own.

“Is there a spare room here?” She asked, rubbing her eyes and wiping away the buildup of tears.

“No, you can use Robin’s though, he hasn’t used it in… ages.” Cyborg responded, she knew where the room was so she walked past him to the elevator. “You going to live here now?” He asked, she looked over her shoulder towards him.

“I don’t have anywhere else to go.” She answered, taking another couple of steps before turning to look at him again. “Please, don’t tell Ro- Richard. He’ll try and get me to move into the manor with him, I can’t risk his safety anymore than I already am.” She pleaded with him, he nodded slowly. “I’ll tell the others in the morning.” She added, then walking off.

Once she made it to the room she looked around it, when she was in here last she was too focused on Slade and on Richard that she didn’t take in the surroundings. The desk was clean, a slight layer of dust covering the light coloured wood, there were no papers, only a lamp and a tin with pens and pencils in one corner. The bed was a double, grey sheets that probably hadn’t been changed in a while were underneath a black duvet, she went past it to the wardrobe where she found a few items of clothing and a set of his Robin uniform. She put the suitcase inside, opening it up and grabbing the last jumper she packed, it would have to do as pyjamas for now.

She changed into the jumper, taking in the warmth of the cotton and climbing into the bed. Eisa stayed under the covers, sitting while staring at the desk, she could see Richard sitting there, doing homework, doing research into a place that would need to be raided because of bad guys. Of course, he probably only slept here when things back at the manor were beyond controllable. She could feel the negative energy from the room, and she was unable to shake it.

This room was used only because it had to be, not because people wanted to. She knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep, and before long light was coming into the room due to the sun rising above the horizon. It was a school day, so she immediately got dressed in uniform and went to the kitchen, finding some cereal for breakfast.

She put some makeup on, just enough to cover her dark circles and made her way to school, only to find Richard waiting for her.

“You look like you slept well…” He trailed off, sarcasm clear in his tone.

“I didn't.” She replied bluntly, going straight to her locker to get her textbooks for first period.

“Eisa-”

“When will you get the hint, Richard?” She asked, turning to face him after slamming her locker door. She knew she had gained the attention of everyone in the hallway but soon enough and they were back to minding their own business. “You know what I have been trying to do-”

“The past two weeks you've been trying to push me away…” He started. “It hasn't been going well for you, and the only way I'm going to give you distance is if you tell me why. I know you care about me, so don't say that you don't, you explicitly told me so. This better not be about your cousins or whatever, because it will only work for so long.” He added.

“Please, just leave me alone.” She asked gently.

“Not going to happen.”

“Leave me alone.” She asked, hoping he would do so.

“Eisa-” He was cut off by her eyes flickering to flames before back to blue.

“Leave me alone.” She stated one final time, a growl in her voice which didn't suit her personality.

“You push me away, I'm not going to come crawling after you. I won't come back.” He told her, she hesitated for a moment at the words. This would be final, it would have to be. If she left him it would show everyone that she didn't care about him, they wouldn't harm him because there would be no reason to.

“Good.” She said, stabbing herself in the heart as she said so. There was no going back now, she knew that as she turned around and walked away from him. This was for his own safety, when this was all over she would explain everything to him, and maybe it would be better to ask for forgiveness in this situation rather than permission.

***

Richard was in the training room at the manor, punching the bag and allowing his anger out through the action. He could barely believe that Eisa had pushed him away like that, it had been so final, so cold… so against her nature. Not that he really knew what her nature was anymore.

The two personalities she had expressed were very different to each other, and he didn't have enough time to work out what her true one was. It couldn't be the bitter, cold version of Pyro, but the gentle hearted version of Eisa didn't seem to fit quite right either.

It would have to be somewhere in the middle, but it didn't explain why she had pushed him away so callously. He had thought that now he knew who she was, that she had told him explicitly how she felt about him, that they would at least be starting something more than a friendship…

Not taking a massive step in the opposite direction.

He dealt one final punch to the bag, taking two steps backwards before letting out a deep breath. It didn’t help that he had just found out about Bruce training another teenage boy to replace him as Robin… had he not proven himself enough? Or was he just acting out and Bruce needed someone he could order around without talking back?

Jason Todd, another orphan that was given a better opportunity in life due to Bruce. Another orphan who had the chance to fight crime next to Bruce’s side, to _Batman’s_ side, like it was an honour to do so.

He walked away from the training room, carefully walking down the hallway as he heard voices, one female and one male. He recognised both of those voices immediately, Eisa and Bruce. Richard stayed hidden around the corner of the hallway, hearing her voice at this moment in time in his own home was like an out of body experience. It wasn’t right, but he didn’t care.

“Mr Wayne, I don’t know how much longer I can accept your help for. I thought it was working, I really did, but I almost lost control again last week. Martian Manhunter’s help was useful, the information he has given me on telepathy is invaluable but no one has the same problem as I do, no one has an evil side that they need to keep suppressed.” Eisa stated, Richard dared to peek around the corner, seeing her red hair pulled back in a messy bun that was barely holding anything back. She looked like she hadn’t had a decent sleep in a few weeks and was seeming extremely distressed.

“Eisa, you need to keep seeing us at the watchtower, we can try helping you further-”

“It’s not working!” She cut him off. “Diana doesn’t know anything about my situation, she may be Wonder Woman but she’s not like me. Manhunter cannot help me anymore, he’s taught me everything he can. I have learnt all that I can from you, not that I needed any help with hand to hand combat.”

“And what about the Titans?”

“Raven understands me, having the dark side. I’m going to continue being a part of the Titans, if not for being a part of a team then to learn from Raven.” She explained, and Richard sighed in relief, that meant he wouldn’t be without her completely.

“And what of Richard?” Bruce asked next, a little too quietly for what was normal. Richard realised he was still looking around the corner and immediately pulled back, not really wanting to see her face if she responded to the question.

“I’ve… I’ve had to push him away, his safety is more important than anything. I understand that if I am to continue being a part of the Titans that I will have to see him as Robin, but if I can lessen the time that he’s with me then I can lessen the chances of him being hurt, by Eve or by my cousins. I should have told him that…” She trailed off, Richard slowly slid down the wall, sitting on the floor with his head in his hands.

“It's better this way, easier. You did good.” Bruce stated in response, but Richard wasn't at all surprised to hear it. He wanted to stand up, go to her and tell her she was wrong, but the way she said it made it sound like it was the only choice she had left. He didn't want to make her hurt anymore than she already was.

He stopped listening to their conversation from there, taking a few slow breaths to calm himself. He pushed the pain, the anger, down in his chest until he couldn't feel it any longer.

Until he was numb, like he needed to be.

Like _she_ needed him to be.


	18. Trauma

  
Eisa had never felt… lonely before, she guessed it was because she had let people get close to her, she allowed herself to have friends. Now she had to be alone for their safety. The only reason she was staying at the tower was because her cousins wouldn't think to look there for her, they thought she still hated the Titans.

But as the days passed by she slowly came to realise that she did care for every single one of them in a different way. Beast Boy was similar to a little brother, Cyborg an older one. The only way to describe how she cared about Starfire was similar to that of a child, with them not having a clue about the world but still seeming eager to learn. Raven surprised her most, they were becoming friends, they understood each other, the darkness living within one another and that the darkness should never be let out.

But at the same time as she felt herself becoming closer to them she was keeping them at arm's length. She couldn't let them too close or she would be in the same situation with them as she is with Richard. They no longer spoke, not even to greet each other, only when communicating on missions with the Titans.

It was back to how it was before they knew each other personally, just Pyro and Robin but lacking the banter. She missed that time, it had been a calm few years where her and Eve got along, where they were both in control and made decisions together. Now it seemed to be a competition to see who could stay in control the longest, for now Eisa was winning, but she didn't know how long for.

She wasn't entirely sure when they became opposites, she just knew something happened one night when she got her telepathy. Usually when she was asleep Eve would keep watch, but one night Eisa woke to being surrounded by water, by the ocean. She knew something had changed then, she knew Eve had bargained with her own mother to know more about the prophecy, to find out what she had to do to get back into Olympus.

That night was when Eve found out about the shortcut, about needing to get rid of the mortal that Eisa was supposed to fall in love with. Richard.  
Since then it had been a struggle between the both of them, but Eisa was hoping that it would be over soon.

At the moment though, she was sitting in the room that belonged to Richard, searching for anything that could show that he didn't care about her from the very beginning. She had always had a soft spot for her Boy Blunder, before she knew who he was, when it had just been Pyro and Robin. She savoured every moment they had spent together, he was the one person who liked her and didn't do it out of obligation.

While going through the wardrobe she found a piece of material from a few years ago. It had been a part of one of her old suits, while saving his ass once again it had ripped on her, she offered it to him as a ‘token to remember her by’.

He thought he would have thrown it out, or maybe he kept it to find out how it was fireproof for his own use, or maybe he had kept it because it was hers. She didn't want that to be the reason…

She put it back in its place and stopped her search, it had already proven the opposite of what she had been hoping for. Aside from the piece of material, a note she had written him before he knew that she was Pyro had been sitting on the desk. Ironically, it was from after that night she had spent at his house…

_If something is going on at home and you need someone to talk to, I can be that someone._

What a stupid note, a stupid note that she had accidentally turned to ash as her emotions sky rocketed from reading the words. She had tried to convince him that she would always be there for him and had now shoved him away like he wasn't worth a thing.

No wonder he was hurt. She would be too if it was the other way around, but it wasn't. Once again she was the one who had betrayed his trust, betrayed him. Richard, who deserved only the best, had gotten her, he had wanted her. The one person o n the planet who thinks that to keep the people she loves safe she has to push them away, she has to cut them off and forced herself to lose those idiotic feelings.

Not that she had successfully lost feelings yet. She doubted she ever could.

She had missed calls from John, ones she didn't particularly feel like responding to. He would just tell her that she needs to focus on getting back to Olympus, that was really the only thing he cared about and that was only because his father, Hades, had a soft spot for Eisa. She was his favourite niece without question.

But that didn't matter right now, none of this idiotic Olympus bullshit meant a single thing. Richard didn't deserve any of this but he also didn't deserve to die because he loved her. That thought scared her. What if he did love her? What if it was already too late?

“What have I done?” She whispered to herself as the few pieces of ash fell to the ground from that note. That stupid note. She took a step back, not realising she had left the wardrobe open as the door to the room opened too. Immediately she turned to face Richard who was standing in the doorway, looking at her with confusion.

“What are you doing in here?” He asked, she didn't reply as he then looked to the open wardrobe. “Were you going through my things?!” She stayed silent yet again, she didn't see the point in denying it. After a few moments of silence he sighed. “Fine, don't say anything. I'm just here to get some stuff anyway.” He stated, walking in and going directly to the desk. He looked to where the note had been sitting and then the ash on the ground. “Don't fucking tell me-”

“It was an accident…” She cut him off, seeing the anger on his face as he turned around, she took another step back to try and shake off some of the anger that was directed towards her.

“An accident? Really? Why don't I believe that?” He said, picking up a book from one of the drawers.

“It was, I swear.”

“I'm sorry, but that doesn't mean much to me at the moment.” He snapped, going to the door again.

“Richard-”

“No, don't give me that.” His voice was fuelled with anger as he turned to face her. “You are the one who pushed me away and now you're snooping through my shit. I'm fucking confused about what the fuck is going on and I'm fucking done, okay?” He turned to leave again.

“I'm trying to keep you alive, can't you see that?” She nearly whispered, it was enough to stop him from moving away. “It's the only way to make sure you don't die, I'm not worth it. You need to stay away from me-”

“I don't want to have to stay away from you, Eisa.” Hearing him say her name gave her chills, it was the first time he had done so since the day she pushed him away.

“Do you want to die?” She asked him rhetorically, but he responded anyway.

“I want to be with you, not that it matters.”

“It does matter.” She corrected him. “I accidentally burnt the note because I was looking for anything that would prove you don't care about me, but I found the exact fucking opposite. I'm scared for you, I don't know when you're going to die, I don't know how, but if we aren't together, if we don't love each other then it won't be because of me. I want you to live a full life, not die before you're even twenty.” He shook his head in response, as if it was a stupid thing to want him to be alive for as long as possible.

“If I wanted to live a long life I wouldn't be a vigilante.” He stated.

“This is different, Richard. This isn't dying by some criminal while protecting a city, this will be you possibly be burning to nothing but ash while I am unable to stop it.” She told him.

“If you can't understand, then I don't know why we're arguing. You kissed me at the gala, not the other way around, that means you had to have decided that you didn't care about your stupid prophecy anymore. Once again, you changed your mind. I'm not crawling back to you, I told you that, you pushed me away, now you deal with the consequences.” He told her. “Why are you here? Honestly? Why are you even in my room? Was the mansion you were living in not good enough for you?” Her eyes filled with fire.

“I burnt the place down behind me as I left, they are all under the influence of Phorcys and Peitho now. It wasn't safe anymore, they were going to beat down my bedroom door and kill me if I didn't go to their side… I had nowhere else to go.” She explained, leaving him in shock for a minute or two.

“You could've come to the manor.” He whispered.

“I don't want you to be in anymore danger than you already are.” She stated.

“Maybe I want the same for you…” He trailed off before he shook his head. “I could never hate you, I told you that and it's still true. But you're making it extremely difficult.”

“That's the point, I want you to hate me. That way you're safe.” She explained, knowing very well that telling him meant the opposite would happen. He ran a hand through his hair and hit the button to reopen the door, taking a step out into the hallway and finding his way back to the elevator. When Eisa looked down to her hands they were shaking, her eyes were stinging as she ran out of the room and to the stairs, getting to the roof and encasing herself in fire before taking off and landing in an all too familiar alleyway.

This was where the Gods had left her as a child, this was the place that reminded her of why she was doing everything she was. But as she stood in the puddle of questionable liquid she knew it wasn't serving that purpose anymore.

She didn't want to go to Olympus, not if the cost was going to be this high. She wasn't willing to leave the place she had begun to call home for one she barely even remembered. How long had it been, seven years? Seven since they left her here as if she was nothing? A broken demi-god, a failed experiment.

She felt the sudden weight of the necklace her mother had left for her, it always turned up around her neck when she felt alone, when her mother wanted to be there with her. Her anger made her rip the chain from around her neck and throw it down the alleyway, but before she could blink it was hanging from her body once again.

She took it in her hand once more, encasing it in flame and forcing the heat to increase, the metal melting and falling through her fingers. Now with a puddle of molten silver at her feet she slowly slid down a wall in the alleyway, allowing her body to relax.  
Allowing herself to let go of the pain.

She screamed first, her body shaking, before she broke into tears. She never wanted any of this, why would she? She just wanted a normal life, with parents who loved her and no powers to even think of. She wanted no connection with the gods, but she knew that it was impossible.

She was destined for great things, but she was fated for great trauma first.

 


	19. Charity

  
Eisa sat in the library, a distant look on her face as a rather large book sat underneath her left hand. She hadn't found any information of use to her, and so she had now resorted to falling victim to her mind in the school.

Her eyes only shifted from a poster hanging on the wall across from her to a person when the movement distracted her. After a moment she realised it was Richard standing at the other side of the table.

“I thought you said you wouldn't come crawling back to me.” She whispered, her eyes flicking to the librarian sitting behind his desk.

“I'm not,  this is the only spare seat I would be willing to sit at which is really saying something.” He told her, prompting her to look around the floor at the fill tables or the ones which had people you wanted to avoid sitting at.

“Be my guest.” She gestured at the seat, which he quickly sat down in.

“What are you reading about?” He asked, keeping his voice down as he got out a notebook and his laptop.

“Greek Mythology…” She trailed off, looking to the page that rested underneath her fingertips.

“I would have thought that you would be well versed in that area.” Richard stated, whether it was sarcastic or not she couldn't tell.

“I am, but I'm looking for something in particular.” She replied, flicking to the next page and finding it to be as disappointing as all the others.

“And what would that be?” She contemplated whether to answer that question truthfully or with a blatant lie. Either way could be a safe option, but it depends on the outcome she was looking for.

“Any instance where a prophecy has been broken…” She answered, deciding that truth was the best way to go. She was already thinking about apologising for pushing him away again, about letting him back in and ignoring the prophecy, but there was something keeping her from doing so. “It hasn't been successful so far.” She told him, watching his expression carefully. If he was shocked by her admission of truth he didn't show it.

“Eisa-”

“You said it yourself, you don't want to have to stay away from me. I hate having to push you away, I'm trying to see if there is a way we can get what we want without you dying in the process.” She stated, turning back to the book and continuing to read. He kept silent, only letting out a sigh as he stood up and walked away, coming back a few minutes later with a few books in hand. She didn't need to ask what they were about, she could see the covers.

_Greek Mythology: A Summary_

All of them were books on Greek Mythology, and so she kept quiet. They both continued their study, skim reading through the stories encapsulated on the pages for any kind of information that could be of use but finding none.

Considering the fact that it was after hours, they didn't have any classes to get to or anywhere important to be. It was only after Richard got a call from Alfred that they realised it was just after six in the evening and that they should probably go.

They put the books away before exiting the library, tbe two hadn't spoken since Richard had gone to get those books.

“Um, get back to the Tower safely.” Richard stated, eyes locking on hers.

“Get back to the Manor safely.” She replied, he nodded in response before walking away.

Neither of them had found anything regarding broken prophecies, and she wasn't sure what that meant. Either Richard would die anyway because she still cared for him, or there was no way of avoiding a relationship between them. She watched as he walked away, not looking back to her once.

She could feel his mind against her own, could sense that his feelings hadn't changed, that he was angry but understanding.

Maybe it was best to let what they had play out, after all, it could still end up with him alive. Prophecies are known to be cryptic, death of Richard could be a death of their relationship, of his feelings, or just the loss of him.

It was too late to apologise now, she knew that, but it was in that moment that she decided not to fight anymore. If a prophecy could not be broken then there was no point, she was destined to live through a great amount of scarring pain, best to face it sooner rather than later.

***

  
Richard looked around the room, the charity ball Bruce was holding at the Manor had more of a turnout than he had expected. Then again, people usually jumped at the opportunity to see within the dark and dramatic walls of this place.

He hated dressing in suits, always had. It felt wrong to him, out of place, like he was acting the part of the billionaires son. But, he was slightly relieved when he saw familiar red hair in the crowd of people.

Albeit, slightly confused.

Immediately his feet followed her through the people dancing together to reach the other, less crowded, side of the ballroom. As soon as she did she turned to face him, knowing that he had followed her there. She looked stunning in a red dress, a string of silver hanging around around her neck, a large and familiar diamond hanging from the end of it. Her makeup was near the same as the gala he had taken her to, not that he minded. He'd prefer her without the makeup on, but in this situation he knew it was similar to his needing to wear a suit.

“What are you doing here?” He asked immediately, looking over his shoulder before focusing on her.

“Don't worry, I'm not here for you.” The words stung him a little as she said them. “I'm not here to try and win you, to say I've changed my mind, I'm not here to apologise. I'm here because Bruce asked me to be, he got a tip that some ice-idiots might try and wreck the joint to steal jewellery and the like. Who better to fight off a cryokinetic than a pyro?” She clarified for him, but he was still hurt by the words.

“Bruce didn't say anything to me…” Richard trailed off.

“That’s not surprising, I know it was a lie. I just don't know why he would want me here if not for that.” She stated, fidgeting with the dress. He decided he would ask Bruce about it later, it wasn't important at the moment.

“Where did you get the dress from?” Richard asked, Eisa smirked at him.

“Your dad bought it for me.” She replied, looking around the room once more. “I don't know why he got red, the theme is black and white and now I'm entirely out of place.” She added, her high ponytail shifting with every slight movement of her head.

“I don't think you are…” Richard replied. He wasn't entirely sure why this ball was being held in the first place, it was only a few days notice and he couldn't remember the name of the charity they were even raising funds for.

“I'm fairly sure I am, I'm the only one wearing colour in this room.” She told him.

“Not true, Edyth is wearing blue.” Richard pointed to an elderly woman.

“When I did a quick scan of her mind, I could see that she's colour blind, she can't tell the difference between blues, greens and _greys_.” She put emphasis on the ‘grey’. “She thinks she wearing a grey dress.” She added.

“Well…” He didn't know how to respond to that.

“I shouldn't have come.” She stated next.

“Why did you? If you knew Bruce was lying…”

“I didn't want to risk it, the thought of you in danger makes me want to vomit.” She answered, truthfully. The two stood in silence for a while after that, looking around the room. “Well I've finished doing a mind sweep, no one in the room is evil, not the kind we're looking for anyway. So I guess we can relax.” She told him.

“Well I might be able to if I didn't have to wear this damn jacket.” Richard told her, her eyebrows creasing slightly.

“Then take it off, you’re young, you can break rules you know, even socially constructed norms.” She told him.

“You're a bad influence, Eisa Olympus.”

“You're an easy target, Richard Grayson.” She replied coolly, watching as he shrugged the jacket off and left it over the back of a chair. “More comfortable?”

“Well, it might distract them all from asking if I have a girlfriend yet.” He stated before realising he had, he immediately looked to her, her eyes on the floor before slowly looking back up to meet his. “Sorry, I didn't-”

“I know, there was no insinuation behind it. I mean, it's just truth.” She paused and an all too large smile came on her face. “You're such an attractive young man, Richard, how haven't you found someone yet?” She asked, her voice changing to the same accent and tone as his birthday party, from that phone call. He smiled too, that phone call saved him from punching a wall that night.

“This could be solved if we just pretended for the night.” He told her, knowing it was a bold move. She was caught off guard and took a few seconds before responding.

“Richard…” She trailed off, her voice sounding like she would say no. “...if that's the case, we should be dancing right now.” She finished, another sly smile on her face as she held her hand out for him. He took it.

“Well, madam, may I have this dance?” He asked.

“Oh, kind sir, how could I refuse?” She replied, allowing him to lead her back into the flow of people. They blended in easily, even with the striking red dress she wore.

This was different to the gala, to him it was anyway. There wasn't the secret of his superhero life to tell her, there wasn't the threat of Slade or of Quentin Marques. After the gala Bruce had cut ties with the man, he would not be allowed in the manor ever again.

“Eisa…” He trailed off, she responded with a light ‘mhm’, her eyes on his with a fully attentive expression on her face. “Will we ever…” He didn't need to finish, not when she grimaced from knowing where he was going with the sentence.

“I have one more massive secret to tell you, my mother, how I came to be, why. This one is bigger than me being Pyro, it could change how you think forever, and not in the way you would think.” She told him.

“Then just tell me, if that's what's standing between us, then tell me.” He whispered, wanting nothing more than to finally be able to have her for himself, to give her everything he could.

“It's a long story, and a painful one. I don't want to have to tell it twice, if I tell you then I'll have to tell the Titans, if I can do it all at the same then that will make it easier for me, if you're okay with that. I'm ready to tell you, I can't really keep it from you any longer.” She told him. He thought about it, not having the story told to him personally, with him not being the only one he was talking to.

“Eisa-”

“It won't be me telling them, it will be me telling you while they are present.” She clarified.

“I was going to say that was fine, if that's what's best for you then we'll do that.” He told her, she smiled gently.

“Meet me at the Tower tomorrow night, around seven. We need to look into the demi-gods anyway, may as well kill two birds with one stone.” She told him, he nodded in response. “You'll probably need a day or two to process one specific point, so I'll give you the space for that afterwards. I'll let you come to me first, I won't push you until you're ready.”

“Whatever it is can't be that bad.”

“It's not bad as such, it will just be conflicting.” She told him.

“Why?” He asked next, she smiled once again, but this one was more broken.

“You'll find out tomorrow.”

***

  
It was after the ball had finished that with,Richard had gone to see Bruce. He needed answers to the couple of questions he had.

“Bruce…” He trailed off, seeing his adoptive father closing the door behind the last people to leave.

“What is it?” He asked, not in an offensive way, it was almost concerned.

“Tonight, you got Eisa here, but you lied to her about the tip, why?” He asked, Bruce sighed as they walked back to the lounge room, both of them taking a seat.

“You haven't been sleeping lately, you aren't as focused, you aren't the same at the moment. I had to think for a little while, but I think I figured it out. It's because of her, she wants to keep you safe by pushing you away because of the prophecy. But, if that prophecy does speak about you, then there isn't a way to keep it at bay. If the only way to make you happy again is to be with her, then I will help you get there.” Bruce told him, the answer confused the hell out of Richard but he guessed he could process that later.

“You're getting rid of the rule?” Richard checked, and Bruce nodded in reply. “Okay, second question. You know everything about Eisa, right?” Again he nodded. “What specific point about her is going to be conflicting enough to need a couple of days to process?”

“When is she telling you?” He asked, so Richard answered with ‘tomorrow night’. Bruce stood up, patting the teenager on the shoulder.

“You'll find out then, now go to bed, you'll have a big day tomorrow.”

 


	20. Seven

Eisa paced around the main room of the Tower, ignoring the flickering computer screens on the wall. Raven was already sitting on the couch, fully aware of what was going to be told to them in less than quarter of an hour. The young demi-goddess had decided that it would be best to finally tell them all about how she came to be, she had done all she could by herself and needed help to try and figure out how to deal with Eve and the prophecy that loomed over her head.

But what would they think of her afterwards? When she tells them her age? That was what she was mostly worried about, how they would perceive her after being told when she was created.

“Everyone’s here…” Raven spoke, snapping Eisa’s attention to the couch which indeed had the five Titans sitting on it. She had been too distracted by her own worries to even notice that they had all come in. Her eyes landed on Richard, sitting exceptionally still in civilian clothing. A pair of sweatpants and a white t-shirt, a pair of sneakers on. He still had heavy bags under his eyes, he probably slept little last night, questioning what he was going to be told in a few moments.

They were all watching her expectantly, their focus changing from her face to her hands which were playing with flames. She was nervous, scared even. She took a deep breath, she’d had twenty-four hours to work out how she was going to tell this story, and even though she’d had a plan it had suddenly run from her mind.

“Eisa…” His gentle voice was enough to remind her that everything would be okay, she would tell them and they would accept her. They had to, there was no time for them to throw her out. She could feel something bad hovering ever closer, bringing itself to them. She didn’t know what, but she hoped it wasn’t Eris.

“Hestia, the Goddess of the Heart, much loved by all of her siblings, her nieces and nephews, wanted to have a child.” That wasn’t the most poetic way of putting it, but it was out there. “She is a virgin goddess, vowed to stay that way, so parenting one with another god or a mortal wasn’t exactly what she wanted. She did the only thing she could think of, carving one from clay and begging Zeus to give that carving life. Through a little bit of magic, Hestia gave her blood to he carving as it’s life source, Zeus then breathed life into it and watching as it changed from clay to a live being.” She added, sounding a little more like a story than a statement.

“That being turned out to be me, a newborn child who was never truly born.” Eisa finalised that point, all of the Titans seeming completely invested in what she was saying. “There was a party held for my creation, where Hestia had begged for no gifts, so they all worked around that and did something else. As I stated before, all of the gods and goddesses had loved Hestia, even those with a quarrel against her still loved her, and so instead of gifting her, they all gifted me. By that, I mean they each gave me a part of their power, either a specific aspect or a part of themselves. Through blood I am bonded with each of the gods, their powers running through me and giving me strength.”

She paused for a breath, she could tell they were all wondering about Eve and how she comes into the story, she could tell from the weight of the question in all of their minds pressing down on hers. She took a deep breath before continuing on. “Eris asked to see me during the party, wanting to give me a gift as well. The truth was that she also wanted a child, and saw me as a perfect candidate for that.”

“Eve…” Richard trailed off, Eisa nodded.

“Eve is Eris’ child, I am Hestia’s. We share the same body but are separate minds. She is of Chaos, I try to be of good.” She explained. “It wasn’t long before the other gods found this out, I was a few months old when Eve came out and showcased those blue flames. They were so hot that Hestia couldn’t touch us, even with her affinity to fire. The other gods deemed that I was too dangerous, and voted to kick me out of Olympus until I could control Eve.”

“But you were a little baby…” Beast Boy trailed off.

“The rushed my aging, within a few days I was in an adolescent body. Hestia was given two weeks to teach me everything I would need to know and then they abandoned me in Gotham.” She stated.

“How… how long ago was this? How old are you?” Richard asked, Eisa knew that he had finally figured out what the piece of conflicting information was going to be.

“I was created just under eight years ago, I’m technically seven years old.” Eisa stated, giving them all a moment to process those words. Richard nodded slowly, now understanding why she had warned him about the information he would be given. “Age is not a defining factor with Gods, it doesn’t really seem to matter, so please try your best not to think of me differently. I know you will, but try not to.” She nearly pleaded with them, Richard no longer looked her in the eyes, his focus was on his hands.

“Anyway, it was a few years before I became Pyro, I needed to hon in my powers. I found a place to stay with other demi-gods, I was drawn to it, it was rather strange. It was only a large house, a few bedrooms that we doubled up in. I stayed with a few demi-gods, notably Phorcys and Peitho. That is how I know them so well, I lived with them until I became Pyro. They started to change around that time, though they were thinking more along the lines of ‘world domination’ while I wanted to keep people safe. Eve and I, we were in an agreement then, we worked together then, which was why I was sometimes good, sometimes not, it depended on who was in control at the time. We both tried our best though.

“And as you would all know, a few months ago I disappeared for a little while. What happened was I had woken up on a beach, water brimming up around me. I could tell something was wrong with Eve, but I didn’t know what for a few more hours. Once I became surrounded by people I realised I could hear their thoughts, I knew things about them, it was around then that Eve told me of the prophecy Hestia had created, she only knew of it through Eris. It had been kept from me, but now Eve thought she could speed up the process by finding out who it was and killing them herself.

“That was when it became a constant battle between us, but it was difficult to keep control when you can suddenly hear everyone’s thoughts around you. So, I went to the League, asking for their help. Wonder Woman helped me understand my heritage, Martian Manhunter helped with my telepathy, Batman helped with my mental state and fine tuned my fighting. You guys know the rest from there.” She finished, it had seemed a lot shorter than she imagined it would be. It had been so painful to think about, but seemed too easy to explain. She thought it might take an hour or two to get through everything, but she had somehow gotten through it in twenty minutes.

“The prophecy, does it have any specific poem or writing?” Richard asked, still looking at his hands.

“If it does, I’m unaware of it. Like I said, I found out about it through Eve, and even though she now wants me ruined she can’t lie to me. That’s why she specified about the death of the one person I would love, because she can’t lie and knew that would hurt me the most.” Eisa explained, watching his form carefully. He was still processing, that much was obvious, but she wasn’t sure how long he would need to do so for.

The others sensed that was all they would be told, there wasn’t really anything else that she could go over unless they had any specific questions. Four of the five Titans stood up, obviously not needing anymore information from her.

“Richard…” She addressed the last person aside from her after the others had left.

“So that was the conflicting information, how old you are?” Richard asked, finally looking away from his hands and into her eyes.

“Yes.” She answered simply, holding his gaze. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, you were right, I Just need some time to process it.” He told her, she nodded in understanding.

“Fair enough, you found out I’m less than half the age you thought I was.” She said, looking down to her hands.

“They really threw you out of Olympus because of Eve?” He asked next, seeming more offended by that fact than her age.

“Yeah, they did.” She answered, trying to cover the pain from it.

“It would be one of the first things you remember, unless you have an eidetic memory or something like that. I don't know how god brains work.” Richard added.

“I don't have an eidetic memory, so yeah, it is one of the first things I remember.” Eisa answered, waiting as they sat in silence.

“I understand why you didn't want to go over that twice.” He said simply, she didn't feel the need to respond, so she didn't. “I’ll see you later.” He stated, standing up from the couch.

“Bye…” She trailed off, watching as he headed towards the elevator. He was taking her age well, she avoided going into his mind but could feel the tendrils of his pity reaching towards her. She blocked it out, keeping a close eye on her hands as she felt Eve trying to gain control, with a few deep breaths she felt the pressure of Eve in her mind leave and shifted her vision to the floor to ceiling window.

And once again, she felt alone.

***

Richard hadn’t gone to her, not yet. It had been three days and it was still difficult for him to grasp the fact that Eisa was only seven years old… seven. He wanted to act like he never even heard that piece of information which she promptly followed with ‘age is not a defining factor with the gods’.

She never got to experience being a child, she never experienced growing up with a family, she never experienced the wonder of the entire world and how it was different when you were a kid, she never got to have a birthday party, feel the wonder of Christmas morning… he was so angry at the Gods, something he never thought he would feel. So angry that they took that from her without a true reason behind it. There had to be something else other than having a second soul to share her body with, after all, evil is not born, it’s made.

He wished he could go to Olympus and force them to right the wrong they had done to her, force them to take her back, force them to see they were wrong. Eisa had said she had only had trouble with Eve after telekinesis came into the picture, after Eris may have tampered with her brain. Eisa had never said that was what happened, but he guessed that was it, Eris wanted her daughter to have control over the body they shared and gave Eve a chance to get it. It was the only thing that made sense.

But it still made no sense as to why the Gods would force her out of Olympus… he couldn’t really focus on that now. Instead he was waiting outside of school, trying to catch Eisa before she left. For all he knew, she could already be gone, but he had a feeling she was still in the building, working her way through the stampede of students leaving. He didn’t know why, but he could feel her presence, it was strange, but he liked the feeling.

He finally saw red hair as the last few people made their way off of the school grounds, calling her name. It was enough to get her attention, her eyes locking onto his before she walked to him. She was smiling, something he hadn’t seen her do much of, so he was glad to see the expression on her face.

“Would you like to come to my place?” He asked, if it was possible her smile became brighter.

“Yeah, definitely.”

 


	21. Disney

“This place still looks like something from a horror movie,” Eisa stated as they pulled up to the Manor, they got out of the car in the garage and she followed him out of courtesy as they walked into the main entrance room.

“I don’t know how it could change…” Richard trailed off, looking back at her as she closed the door behind herself.

“I don’t either.” She replied with a smile, her eyes flicking towards a doorway that Alfred appeared through a moment later. That was something he would have to get used to, Eisa being able to sense people, that she was able to do everything that Pyro was able to do. Eisa was nothing like he had known, he would have to relearn their relationship, relearn who she was.

“It is good to see you Eisa,” Alfred stated, a small smile present on his face which was reciprocated by Eisa.

“It is good to see you too, Alfred.” She replied.

“It is a lot easier now that everyone knows everything about each other,” Alfred stated, to which they all agreed silently. “Dinner will be ready at 6:30, master Bruce is expected to be home a bit before that.” Alfred finished, turning to walk away and leave the two alone.

“Thank you, Alfred,” Richard stated before Eisa could, the older man turning to look at him with a beaming smile on his face.

“What do you want to do?” Richard asked once they were alone, Eisa furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

“You’re the one who asked me here, not the other way around. Surely you have a plan.” She answered.

“You have a point there…” He trailed off.

“Well, I would like to put my bag down, maybe steal some clothes so I’m not in uniform,” Eisa stated, he nodded in response, leading her towards his bedroom. He grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a shirt for her, handing them over as she passed him to go into the bathroom. When she came back out she was changed, the tracksuit pants rolled up to a more suitable length for her and the shirt tied with a hair tie for a more form-fitting size.

“So I thought we could watch something…” Richard stated, albeit a little unsure.

“What do you have in mind?” She asked, tying her hair in a low ponytail, strands falling to frame her face.

“Well, assuming you haven't seen the classic Disney movies because…” He had to pause to not blurt out her age. “...because you wouldn't have been around to see them as a part of your childhood.” She looked at him with a frown. “You know what Disney movies are, right?

“Well…”

“Oh god, this is worse than I thought.” He replied, taking her hand in his and walking her straight to the home theatre room. They had time for one movie before dinner was ready, and Richard made sure to choose one without a damsel in distress, he doubted she would want to see that. He chose Beauty and the Beast, a strong female character that Eisa would hopefully like.

“Oh god, they're animated musicals?” Eisa asked as the opening scene played.

“Yeah, they're kids movies Eisa.” He answered.

“I'm not a kid-”

“That's not what I meant. They're made for kids but watched by everyone. You watch them during your childhood and they stay with you for life, people's favourite movies are often ones from their childhood. A lot of people would say this is their favourite movie.” He explained, she looked at him, watching him carefully and processing what he had said before nodding.

“I trust your judgement, I'm just questioning it at the moment.” She said before turning back to watch the screen. By the time the movie finished, Alfred came in and told them that the food was ready and to come out as soon as they could.

“So did you like it?” Richard asked as they walked down the hallway towards the dining room.

“Well, it was good.” She answered. “It's just a confusing message, I mean she finds out she's kind of into bestiality-”

“I think you completely missed the point of the movie.” He cut her off, but she just smiled at him. She had been joking, and he should have known that.

“No, I get it. Love is still possible even when you believe it isn't, that even though you may have one exceptionally visible or prominent flaw, you can still find someone to love.” She stated, her voice quiet. He wasn't sure why that was, at least until he had time to process what she had actually said, but by then they were in the dining room and sitting down to eat their tea.

“It's good to see you again, Eisa,” Bruce said, and Richard could feel there was now a lack of tension in the air compared to the previous time they had all eaten together. “How's Eve going?”

“She's under control, for the moment,” Eisa replied, cutting into her meat.

“Diana wants to see you, she misses you,” Bruce stated, and Richard had to move past how strange it was to be speaking of this topic at the table with someone outside of their strange little family. But then again, Eisa was essentially a part of it now.

“I miss her too, I should come to visit the Watchtower now that you guys don't rule over me anymore,” Eisa stated, although there was no malice in her tone.

“You do understand why we had to keep you off the field, why we ordered you around like that?”

“Yes, I do. I'm thankful, it helped me get control over my telepathy, over Eve.” Eisa answered, between mouthfuls of roasted meat.

“Good. I just wanted to apologise for how harsh we were-”

“I could have destroyed the planet if you didn't help me, it's okay.” She cut him off, not many people could cut Bruce Wayne off, but she did so without hesitation and without seeming rude. Maybe she did belong as a part of the Wayne family after all.

Dinner passed by quickly, Bruce leaving to go to the Watchtower and leaving the two alone as they went back to the theatre for another Disney movie or two before Eisa would leave for the Tower. That could be the first thing he discussed with her before they began watching anything else.

“Um, Eisa…” He trailed off, she turned to him straight away as he spoke her name, walking down the hallway back to the home theatre. “I checked with Bruce and Alfred, and if you don't want to stay at the Tower then, well, you have a place here. There's actually a room set up for you if you want it, but it's okay if you say no.” Richard stated while running a hand through his hair.

“Really? You'd be okay with that?” She asked, making sure it was alright with _him._

“Yeah, I'd prefer it, actually. That way you're… close, in case of danger.” He answered, that was one reason why he wanted her there, but he really didn't want her to push him away again, and if they were living under the same roof it would make it rather difficult to do so.

“Okay, I'll bring my stuff in tomorrow.” She stated, a smile on her face as she looked back to where she was walking. They entered the theatre, taking up the same spots they had before. They were about a meter apart on one of the couches in the room, but it was uncomfortable to be that far apart, at least for him. He wasn't sure why she wasn't even trying to move closer to him, throughout the entire length of Beauty and the Beast she had sat again the arm of the chair as if trying to give him as much room as possible.

Unless she…

“Eisa…” He trailed off after they sat back down, he should have said this earlier but it was going to be hard to get out.

“Yeah?” She asked, taking up the same position on the couch as she had before. He should have thought about exactly _what_ he was going to say before he got her attention, that would have been a better idea. Too late now. “Are you alright?” She asked him, great, he had just been staring at her. Blankly.

“Yeah, I'm fine. Um, I just wanted to say…” panicked thoughts were running through his head, how could he say this without it coming out wrong?

“Say what?” She questioned after he sat in silence for close to a minute.

“Would you like some popcorn?” He asked her, changing the subject, she looked a little taken aback.

“Uh, sure.” She played it off as well as he did, and they both pretended that whatever had happened hadn't. He went to get popcorn as Eisa chose which Disney movie to watch next, they watched another three movies that night, the entire time he was unable to say what he had meant to. He still didn't know how to say it.

But once she fell asleep on the couch it was like a weight was lifted from his shoulders. Well not entirely, since he decided he would carry her to what would now be her room. It was the same one as when she had stayed the night all that time ago, across from his own.

He put her down on the bed before moving the sheets to cover her body, she was surprisingly light, but then again his strength always managed to surprise him. While she still slept he sat on the edge of the bed, watching over her.

Reaching for her face he moved any hair from hiding her features, and while he was still close he managed to say what he wanted to.

“I don't care, Eisa. I don't care how old you are, I don't care if I'm supposed to die. I still like you, a lot. I still want to be with you.” She rolled onto her side, he assumed she was still sleeping. “We just need to go slow, this is new territory for the both of us.” He added, sitting up again to give her some space. “Who am I kidding? I'm beyond liking you, Eisa. I think I might love you.”

When he looked back at her he saw that her eyes were wide open, her mouth open slightly with shock.

“How much of that did you hear?”

“Only all of it.” She replied slowly, her voice raspy with sleep and exhaustion. He stood up from the mattress.

“I'll just-”

“If it makes you feel any better, I think I might love you too.” She told him, he froze at her words. “Now get into the bed and cuddle me.” She told him, flicking back the covers for him.

“I said I think we should take it slow…” He trailed off.

“I'm not asking you to fuck me, Richard. I'm just asking you to hold me.” She said groggily, reaching a hand towards him as she was still lying down. “Please, Richard.” She added when he didn't move, but the way she said his name was enough for him to change his mind. He took off his shirt and crawled into the bed next to her, leaving his pair of sweatpants on. She untied the shirt and took off the pants she was borrowing from him, leaving her in a shirt and underwear. She pulled the covers up around her face, savouring the softness and warmth from them.

“Are you going to cuddle me or what?” She asked as she had her back to him, but there was something she hadn't taken into account when taking off her pants.

“Um… well…” He didn't know how to tell her, but it seemed she already knew what was happening.

“Oh, sorry.” She replied although it was clear from her tone that she was not sorry for turning him on in the slightest. She turned her body to face him. “You're really that easy to get going?” She questioned.

“Only because it's you.” He answered, surprisingly smooth for someone with a surprise hard on.

“Mhmm.” She responded, her eyes closed before she fell asleep two breaths later, not caring that he was now lying wide awake without anything to help calm him down.


	22. Heat

Three days. Eisa had been living with the Bat Family for three days when her peace was ruined by yet another call from her cousin. This time she felt like she owed him at least an answer.

“Hello, John.” She stated, ignoring the look that Richard gave her for disrupting his studying at his desk. She was sitting on his bed, trying to both keep Richard focused and distract him at the same time.

_“Oh, thank you for actually, oh I don't know, answering to let me know you're not dead.”_

“No need to be so fucking harsh,” Eisa responded, once again ignoring the look she received from Richard.

_“I think there is a need, or do I have to remind you about what's at stake here?”_ he asked, she shook her head in disbelief.

“What do you want?” She questioned, her tone seemingly perfect between the lines of harsh and caring. “If it's about Phorcys and Peitho, I'm keeping an eye on them. I promise.”

_“Well, yes and no. I heard about what happened at the Tower with Eve through the channels that began with Peitho.”_ John stated.

“How does she know? She was locked in in a room.” Eisa replied.

_“Dunno, apparently she was told about it by someone else.”_

“Slade, he's the only person who was there who would tell.” She replied, Richard suddenly becoming interested in the phone call.

_“That makes sense, I guess,”_ John replied.

“Anything else?” She asked him.

_“We need to catch up-”_

“You're just going to tell me to focus on getting to Olympus.” She cut him off.

_“No, you said you don't want that anymore. We're still family though, Mum and Dad want to see you too.”_

“I can't see them, I'm not allowed in the Underworld anymore and they aren't allowed up here either.” She told him.

_“There are still ways of seeing people between worlds, Eisa. I guess you wouldn't know that though, would you?”_ He asked. _“The necklace your mother gave you was one of them, well, at least she could see you. I don't think it worked the other way two around.”_

“That necklace doesn't matter anymore, it's gone,” Eisa replied.

_“How is it gone? It's enchanted to always-”_

“I melted it, John.” She answered, stopping him from any rambling on.

_“Oh…”_ That was the only response he had to that. _“Okay, well how are things with Richard or Robin or-”_

“They are literally the same person, and they're fine. We're fine.” Eisa replied.

_“Okay, do you think he's the one from the prophecy?”_ John asked next, Eisa locked eyes with Richard who was now staring at her, wondering who she was talking to.

“Yeah, I think so.” She answered.

_“Okay, well, just remember, death in prophecies can mean an entire number of things that may not even involve death-”_

“Yes I know, thank you, bye,” Eisa replied, pulling the phone away from her ear and hanging up. She didn't want to think about the prophecy, not right now.

“Not to sound overbearing, but who was that?” Richard asked.

“John, my cousin, the son of Hades and Persephone.” She answered. “I mentioned Slade because apparently all of the demi-gods know about my Eve episode, he would be the only one to know to tell them about it.”

“Right…” He trailed off, wheeling his chair back to his desk.

“How's the study going?” She asked him, hanging the topic.

“Not good, I think my brain is officially full.” He replied.

“No, it's not-”

“Okay, learning that you have gifts from the gods means you get intelligence from multiple of them, which means I no longer trust your study methods,” Richard told her while cutting her off.

“It doesn't mean I can't help you…” She trailed off, standing up and walking over to the desk and looking at his notes for the upcoming AP Physics exam. “You can look at my notes if you want to.” She told him, already knowing he wouldn't want to.

“No, I can do this myself.” He replied.

“Okay, fine, try your best. You'll be begging me for my notes within an hour.” She stated, walking away from the desk and sitting back on the bed.

“You probably didn't even use the textbook, did you? And why do you even need notes?”

“I did use the textbook for your information, and I need notes because my brain is so full of information that I need to organise it all and focus on separate subjects. Plus, I don't have an eidetic memory so I check over them before going into exams and tests.” She explained. “Anyway, the exam is in two days, you've left this fairly last minute for you. All you have to do is calm down, take a breath and refocus.” She told him, he nodded, taking a breath and looking back at the paper.

“My mind is blank.” He stated, so Eisa once again stood up from the bed and grabbed a hold of his hand.

“Let's get our blood pumping then, we'll go to your little gym thing and work out thirty minutes, we'll come back and your brain will be filled with fresh blood and new life for continued notetaking before we do a practice exam.” She told him, he groaned but stood up anyway, saying that he needed to change if that's what they were doing. So, she went to her room, changing into clothes for working out in and meeting him down at the gym.

The last time they had been down here together was when he had kissed her… how long ago had that been again?

“So what's your plan oh Goddess?” Richard asked as he walked into the room, a thin pair of sweatpants on with a tank top to match.

“I figured we could do some sparring, we haven't done that for a while,” Eisa responded, not necessarily enjoying him calling her Goddess, but she wouldn't tell him that.

“There is a good reason behind that.” He replied.

“I know, I'm sorry.” She responded, a smirk on her face. “The whole Peitho thing happened not too long after that, did she look like me? Is that why she almost got to you?” She questioned, judging from the red flushing to his cheeks, let alone the thoughts confirming her theory, she knew she was right. “Mm, I figured as much when it happened.” She told him, moving to the sparring mat and gesturing for him to come towards her. She hadn't worn shoes down, but he had, so she watched as he took them off and left them at the edge.

“We haven't even warmed up…” Richard stated meekly as if trying to avoid the situation.

“You don't have time to warm up when you're called out as Robin.” She responded, waiting for him to move first.

“No powers,” Richard stated as if she would use them in the first place.

“No cheap shots.” She retaliated, knowing he wouldn't do such a thing. They then walked around the edge of the mat, weighing each other up as if they hadn't fought against and with each other enough times to easily know all of the other's weak spots. They then met in the middle, staring each other down as they waited for the other to move.

“Come on Boy Blunder, you're the one who needs the exercise,” Eisa stated, prompting a kick to the stomach from Richard which sent her back a couple of steps, winded.

“You're the one who said no cheap shots.” He reminded her.

“I didn't mean verbal,” Eisa replied, dropping to the ground and swiping out his feet with an easy kick. “Now keep up.” She said as she stood, watching carefully as he flipped to standing in front of her. He went to punch her shoulder which she ducked under, grabbing a hold of his arm and flipping him over her back, his body landing on the ground again. “Are you even trying?”

“If I'm honest, not really,” Richard replied as he lay on the ground, looking up at her. “Why even bother? You probably have a gift from Athena or…”

“I do, but if you can take me down even with gifts from Athena you could take down anyone. Practice makes perfect, except in my case.” She told him, holding a hand out to help him get up. He grasped onto it, and even though she had seen it coming, she allowed him to pull her to the ground. Once he had he held her wrists above her head, his body over hers as he straddled her waist to leave her with fewer options for retaliation.

“How would you get out of this then, little Miss Strategy?” He asked she assessed the situation.

“Well, I could probably knee you with enough force to shock you between your legs, or a good headbutt always works. But, we agreed on no cheap shots so I should stick to my word.” She told him, there were a few other ways she could get out of this position, but she guessed that they didn't matter right now.

“That's the only reason?” He asked, a smile on his face.

“Well, I wouldn't want to ruin your pretty little face now, would I?” she added, feeling his grip on her wrists loosen. That was her cue.

She pulled her wrists free of his grip in one quick movement, using her hands to push one side of his chest and force him to roll to his back before she held him to the ground in the same way he had with her.

“Let me guess, that was a different way to get out?” He asked her.

“Of course it was.” She answered. “If your aim is to limit the ability to escape it's best to get in between the legs unless your flexible enough to sit against the other person's body.” She told him as she did exactly what she described, sitting against his body and flicking her feet to sit over his legs to restrict the amount they could move. She didn't want a repeat of last time… that would be embarrassing.

“How would you recommend I get out of this then?” He asked she shook her head.

“I wouldn't recommend that.” She answered, biting her lip.

“Eisa-” He was cut off as she kissed him, this kiss was different from the previous times they had kissed. First off, it wasn't ending sooner than it had begun with Eisa walking away from him. Second, and most importantly, there were no more secrets, no more hesitations between them, nothing to tell the other that they didn't already know. It was easier, it felt easier for the both of them.

The first kiss was slow, a moment between them that showed that neither would run away from their relationship anymore, they pulled away from each other and took a moment to look the other in the eye before they connected again. Although still slow and meaningful, it was a little more desperate than before.

She let go of his wrists, using her hands to hold the back of his neck as his hands moved to hold her waist, not wanting her to leave him and scared she would do so. This was how he had imagined the relationship going, this was what he had imagined she would feel like against him. Her warmth, it wasn't overbearing but more than a normal person, but it was like being wrapped up in a blanket, a comfortable warmth. He felt like he belonged there, with her, against her.

So when he pulled away to breathe and went to reconnect he made sure that was known. He moved his hands from her waist, wrapping his arms around her chest, one hand going to her hair while the other rested against her ribcage. His heart was pounding, his lips tingling against hers as he felt lightheaded, but in a good way.

“Maybe we should go back to your room…” Eisa whispered against his lips as she pulled away for the third time, her face was flushed as she pulled far enough away for him to see her face.

“We are supposed to be going slowly.” He told her, she smiled.

“Again, I'm not asking you to fuck me, Richard. A little more privacy might be nice, that's all.” She stated, looking towards the camera in the corner to which he followed her gaze to.

“Oh…” He trailed off, also looking towards the camera. “...fair enough. Let's go.” He said as they both stood up, walking calmly back to his room. Eisa walked in last, so she was in the process of closing the door behind herself when Richard did something he wasn't sure would work. He turned her around, pushing her body against the door to make sure it clicked shut and kissed her again, harder than intentionally planned but still getting the point across.

He ran his hands down her sides, following the curves of her body as her hands went to his hair, gripping onto the strands and pulling, he wouldn't say that he disliked it.

They disconnected and reconnected, each time they did so the desperation and depth of the kiss intensified, his hands sticking to her waist as he wasn't sure whether she'd be okay with him touching other places. They pulled away again, a second fleeting between the both of them as he looked to her now swollen lips before he began to kiss her neck, earning a staggered, heavy breath from Eisa as he did so.

“You can grab my ass if you want to.” She whispered into his ear, and after being granted permission he did so straight away, a moan coming from Eisa's lips as he sucked on the skin of her collarbone and squeezed her ass with his hand. It was getting harder for him to control himself as he stopped kissing her neck and returned to her lips. “Bed?” She asked in between hastened kisses, to which he replied by grabbing onto the back of her thighs and picking her up, her legs around his waist as they continued kissing and made their way to the bed.

He dropped her onto her back, laying over the top of her and between her legs as he continued kissing her. Her hands reached for the bottom of his tank top, pulling the material towards his shoulders before he sat up and took the bloody thing off, throwing it to the floor. As he went back down to her he ground into her, which she seemed to like as her back arched in frustration while a groan came from her throat. As his mouth reconnected to hers her hands touched his back, her fingers feeling like fire against his skin, as she scratched him, as she touched him. The feeling was almost indescribable, what the two felt right then.

“Shit…” Richard swore as he pulled away from her. “How far do you think we're going to go?” He asked her, she looked at him with a confused look on her face.

“I don't know, however far we want to… why?” She asked as he ran a hand through his hair.

“I don't have any, um…” he trailed off.

“Any what?” She asked before the realisation hit her. “Oh, no condoms.” She stated as if it wasn't an awkward statement to say.

“Yeah, and I'd prefer we don't do it without some form of protection.” He told her, she smiled gently.

“Fair enough, I definitely agree.” She stated. “Do you want to stop, then? Before we get too carried away?” She asked, ignoring the erection that was clearly visible from Richard's pants.

“That's not a horrible idea.” He agreed, pushing away from her to sit on the edge of the mattress. “I'm just going to go and have a shower…” He trailed off.

“A cold one?” Eisa asked as he stood up and walked towards his bathroom door, he looked back at her, seeing her still flushed face and a few small marks on her neck that he must have left there. He tried to stop thinking about that feeling of touching her, of kissing her without restraint, but it was rather difficult to do so as he continued to look at her.

“A _very_ cold one.”


	23. Safety Hazard

Three weeks after Eisa moved in with the Wayne’s, Richard and her had finished their midyear exams and were going to be in attendance of the winter dance. It would be the first time that Eisa had dressed up for an occasion such as this with more than a handful of people her age present. She tilted her head to the side, wondering if this was too much.

Oh, Gods… she looked like Jessica Rabbit.

Why did she have to get the sweetheart neckline? Why?

At least the skirt was different, it seemed more like a 50’s style dress because of it. With her hair pushed over her shoulder, it made it even more so, alongside the red heels with pointed toes. Her blood red lips matched the colour of the dress and shoes, her eyeliner bringing out the blue of her eyes.

No, she didn’t look like Jessica Rabbit, she looked like a pin-up doll. She wasn’t sure if that was better or worse. There was a knocking on her bedroom door, a pattern she now recognised to be Richard’s.

“Are you ready yet?” He asked through the wooden door, so she walked over to it, taking a final breath, and opened it.

“As I’ll ever be…” She trailed off, drinking in the sight of him. Suits always made him look taller, she had found, and the darkness of the suit was always enough to make his hair seem darker, to make his eyes seem that bit brighter.

“You look…” He trailed off, not knowing what exactly to say. It was clear that he found her at least slightly more attractive than normal, his eyes had darkened, irises dilated, he couldn’t keep his mouth shut…

“I’ll take the lack of description as a compliment.” She said with a smile. “You look rather handsome yourself.” She added, putting her phone into one of the pockets she had sewn into the dress herself, one held a very tightly folded Pyro suit, in case, the other held lipstick, her mask and now her phone. “We taking the Audi?” Eisa asked as she began walking away.

“Um…” Richard started before taking a few hastened steps to catch up to her before continuing to speak. “No, I was thinking we could scale it down for one night. Take the Camaro.” He stated, she smiled at him.

“Sure, let’s go then.” She was rather excited for the night of age-appropriate fun and dancing. It would be the first time she could dance with Richard without feeling the need to keep him at a distance, without needing to keep secrets from him. As they arrived, the night proceeded as normal, the music was louder than necessary, the punch bowl had already been spiked with alcohol, and the dancing was still PG rated for the moment.

“How long until something happens and we have to leave?” Richard asked, she laughed.

“Hopefully an hour at the least.” She responded, making sure she held onto his hand without any chance of letting go. Only a few people turned towards them as they walked in, their attention going towards their hands before moving on to something more interesting. No one really cared that they were together, they weren’t that high in the social hierarchy, so their relationship didn’t matter. “Shall we dance?” She asked he smiled at her before they walked to the section of floor designated for dancing on and lost themselves to the music.

Unlike the gala and the charity ball, most of the music was pop instead of classical or live, that meant that they could lose focus of their lives even more than originally planned due to the obscurity of the music to what they were used to. Of course, when the few slow songs did play they were close together, avoiding kissing each other due to the teachers watching them all with hawk-like eyes. It was during one of these dances, where it was getting extremely difficult for the two not to kiss, when Eisa completely lost focus.

“What is it?” Richard asked as quietly as he could, which seemed to be a low-level shout to be heard over the music.

 _Something's wrong._ She answered telepathically, something she hadn't done in weeks.

 _As in ‘get changed’ wrong?_ He asked in response, she nodded before excusing herself to the bathroom. He followed shortly after, probably just looking like two teens sneaking off to the janitor's closet. As Eisa changed she heard a commotion coming from the gymnasium, and so she hurried getting changed.

_Dick, can you direct all of the human traffic that will be coming out of this place? I'll hold the fight back until your done._

_Sure…_ He trailed off.

 _What is it?_ She asked as she ran out of the bathroom, catching her body on fire as she flew above the people running through the hallways.

 _You called me ‘Dick’._ She paused mid-flight.

 _I suppose I did._ She responded.

 _Be safe, my goddess._ He said with finality, using the name he had been using to call her for roughly the past week.

_Be safe, Boy Blunder._

She cut off their conversation there as she made it back to the gymnasium, taking in the three demigods who were inside of the room. Apollo’s children, the Triplets. One reigned over the sun which displayed through fire, one over truth and prophecy which came through a lie never being able to be spoken in their presence and to be able to see the future, the third had the gifts of knowledge and healing, when injured their body would repair itself within minutes and knowledge usually came in the form of knowing everything about anything. Including patterns of battle. These three were very difficult to win against, especially since she had already done so, they learned from their experience and never made the same mistakes twice. Although the mind had never been a part of Apollo's ruling, the three were able to communicate with each other without speaking, a form of telepathy that Eisa, of course, could not intercept.

“It has been too long, dear cousin.” The triplets spoke in unison, the brother in the middle as he normally was, his fire made him the central target to any fight so he stayed there to take the focus away from his two sisters.

“Not long enough in my opinion,” Eisa responded. “So the two prats have you under their influence too, you mustn't be as strong as you think you are.” She told them without hesitation.

“Our strength is no-”

“-debatable subject, however-

“-yours remains untested.”

She hated when they spoke like that the most, it was enough to give her a headache.

“Now look what you've done…” She trailed off as she walked closer to them, playing with fire gently in between her fingertips. “You've given me a migraine.” She stated, throwing her hands towards the girls and hitting them both with flames hot enough to scold their skin. At least this way she would.know which of the identical girls was the one who healed quickly. The brother scowled before gathering his own flames and throwing them towards her, she held her arms out, instead of throwing them back she let the fire absorb into her, gathering the energy. “You know fire doesn't hurt me, so why bother?” She asked, running towards him and landing a punch to his cheek. Within a few moments, he was under her body on the ground, restrained if only temporarily.

“If you three leave now, I'll pretend this never happened.” She tried to bargain.

“This is bigger than you ever imagined, Eisa, we cannot simply let you go. We have a message to give you, but we were first instructed to cause you pain.” The brother explained

“What message?” She questioned.

“Pain first.” One of the sister's voices echoed from beside her before a fist landed against her temple. It was enough to throw her off, to cover her body in flames and get away from the brother to gather herself before she attempted attacking them again. Attempted.

“There are others waiting, Eisa.”

“Two more wishing to come in here.”

“If we need to call them it will be Richard to face the consequences.”

“You don't want that, do you?”  
She didn't, but then again she also wanted this over with.

“What do you need to tell me?” She asked them. “Tell me, or your sister…” She directed a glowing hand to the still burnt sister who was lying on the ground in pain from her wounds. “...is going to be little more than nothing when I'm done with her.” That was enough to get them to talk, it always seemed to be with the children of Apollo and Artemis, their love for those of their own blood was stronger than anything else aside from their need to protect one another.

“In three days Phorcys and Peitho want you to come back to where this all started, to face them one more time. You can bring your Titans, they will do nothing to stop death befalling you. If you do not turn up then, your most favoured cousin will experience what it's like to be torn apart molecule by molecule.” The two stated at the same time.

“What favoured cousin?”

“The child of Hades and Persephone, the one you call John.” They answered just as Richard entered the room, and just as the orange flames around her body began turning blue. Eisa wasn't the only one who loved John, Eve did as well. The triplets would be the first to face the consequences of taking her cousin. The next would be whoever stood in her way.

She didn't mind losing control this time, she knew Richard would run, he would have to in order to stay safe. She also knew that her flame wasn't strong enough to kill another pyrokinetic, but Eve's was an entirely different story.

She was only just aware of what was happening, of the triplets screaming for mercy, of the gymnasium slowly being enveloped by flame… of Eve pausing her torture as her attention turned to someone else in the room.  
Richard… Eisa realised, he hadn't gone anywhere. He hadn't run like she had thought he would, like she had hoped he would. She had to get control back, now. She tried clawing at Eve's mind, but it was to no avail. She had to have something happen to shock Eve for just a moment, just long enough for her to break back through.

“Leave!” Richard shouted to the Triplets.

“The children of Apollo will not forget this…” The brother stated, whether it was to Richard or about Eve she did not know.

“Eve…” Richard addressed the person hosting her body, walking towards her slowly as if trying to calm a wild animal.

“Richard, it's lovely to see you again, especially since I actually get to look at you this time,” Eve replied, slowly descending to the ground since she had been levitating through her use of fire. Eve rarely had her feet touch the ground, she loved their power she loved using it in any way she could.

“Quite unfortunately, I have to ask for Eisa back.” Playing to her ego, Richard knew what he was doing as he spoke with complete sincerity in his tone.

“I can be a lot more fun than her, I can show you everything she has been keeping secret for the past two weeks,” Eve stated in a sultry voice. “And I can show you realms of pain you never thought existed.” She added in the same tone.

“You aren't going to hurt me, Eve.” He started, seeming a little too confident for Eisa's liking.

“What makes you think that?”

“Because you haven't done it yet.” He answered simply. “You know that hurting me won't get you to Olympus faster, so what's the point? The whole reason you've been acting like a sadistic bitch-” Eve's fire flared “-is to throw Eisa off of the fact that you care for me as well. Maybe not in the same way, but you can't share a body with someone and not experience what they do, not let it affect you, not feel the way that they do.”

“Boy Wonder, I think you-”

“I'm not mistaken if that's where you're going with this. I'm sure that if it came down to it, between saving me or getting to Olympus, you would at least consider saving me, for Eisa.” He cut off the still fire covered Eve, who didn't know how to respond. “Now, if you wouldn't mind, I would like to have Eisa back, I need to tell her something,” Richard added as he came precariously close to Eve.  
_She'll burn you! Get back, you idiot!_ Eisa shouted, but since she was not in control of her body she had no control over her powers, over telepathy

“What might that be?” Eve asked as Richard stood only a few inches away from Eve, sweat already gathering on his forehead because of the heat from the flame.

“That I love her,” Richard stated, moving his hand towards Eve's face and leaning in closer. Shock. Eve was in shock at the closeness of Richard's body. Eisa jumped, ripping at Eve and gaining control again just as his hand touched her cheek and his lips followed to meet hers. The deadly fire was gone, her panic only reminiscent through the rapidly beating heart in her chest, or was that because of Richard kissing her?

Her eyes only opened once he pulled away from her.

“That could have been awkward if it didn't work…” He stated, his eyes slowly opening as he spoke.

“No, it would have been painful.” She corrected wondering why he had suddenly started looking at her in confusion. “What is it?”

“You're still on fire.” He stated, she shook her head.

“No, I'm not, I wouldn't kiss…” She trailed off as she looked to her hands, her eyebrows furrowing. “Purple?” She questioned the purple fire which was covering her body. Richard reached down to grab her hand, but she pulled away before he could touch her. “I'll burn you.” She explained, but he shook his head as she focused on her hands once again. It was enough of a distraction for him to grab her hand without her retaliating.

“You won't.” He corrected her, letting go of her still burning hand and holding up his. Although a little pink from warmth, his skin was clearly not burning or melting from the flames.

“Gods, I hope this isn't permanent.” She whispered, Richard took a hold of her hand again. This purple fire, it was safe. Why or how she could worry about later. “By the way, in response to what allowed me to get control back, I love you.” She told him, he smiled.

“Considering the fact I didn't say it to you, I love you too.” The two stood still for a few moments to simply take in the other person, to remember their features, although they were mostly hidden by masks. The purple fire finally dissipated away, and as it did Richard kissed her again, this time more passionately than before, as if trying to convey how he felt through the contact. So she did the same, moving her hands to hold his neck and pulling his body against hers.

For some reason, the three days she had been given felt like more of a deadline than she imagined it was supposed to be. It felt more final than just a scheduled battle against her cousins. This felt like it could be the last few days she would have with him… what if this was when he died?

At that thought, she kissed him harder, more desperate than she ever had before. She wanted him to be her first, after all, she could be in an arranged marriage come time to be in Olympus, but the Gods couldn't take this decision from her. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, but she knew it wasn't fated to be, but she might have these next few days, and that would have to be enough.

“Let's go back to the manor…” She whispered against his lips, not wanting to pull away from him.

“Will you put the dress back on?” He asked her, she pulled away from him and gave him a smirk.

“Only if you put your suit back on…”

 


End file.
